The Sin and Punishment of Judah 1 CPDV “The sin of Judah has been written with a pen of iron and a point of diamond. It has been engraved upon the breadth of their heart and upon the horns of their shrines. BSB BSB: “The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
2 CPDV And their sons make a remembrance of their shrines, and their sacred groves, and their leafy trees on high mountains, BSB BSB: Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.
3 CPDV by sacrificing in the field. And so, I will give over your strength and all your treasures to be despoiled, along with your exalted places of sin, within all your borders. BSB BSB: O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, within all your borders.
4 CPDV And you will be left behind without your inheritance, which I gave to you. And I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in my fury; it shall burn, even unto eternity.” BSB BSB: And you yourself will relinquish the inheritance that I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land that you do not know, for you have kindled My anger; it will burn forever.”
5 CPDV Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is a man who trusts in man, and who establishes what is flesh as his right arm, and whose heart withdraws from the Lord. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
6 CPDV For he will be like a saltcedar tree in the desert. And he will not perceive it, when what is good has arrived. Instead, he will live in dryness, in a desert, in a land of salt, which is uninhabitable. BSB BSB: He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
7 CPDV Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, for the Lord will be his confidence. BSB BSB: But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
8 CPDV And he will be like a tree planted beside waters, which sends out its roots to moist soil. And it will not fear when the heat arrives. And its leaves will be green. And in the time of drought, it will not be anxious, nor will it cease at any time to bear fruit. BSB BSB: He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.
9 CPDV The heart is depraved above all things, and it is unsearchable, who can know it? BSB BSB: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
10 CPDV I am the Lord, who examines the heart and tests the temperament, who gives to each one according to his way and according to the fruit of his own decisions. BSB BSB: I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
11 CPDV A partridge has hatched eggs that she did not lay; a man has gathered riches, but without judgment. In the midst of his days, he will leave it all behind, and he will be foolish concerning his very end.” BSB BSB: Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer for Deliverance 12 CPDV “A high and glorious throne is the place of our sanctification from the beginning. BSB BSB: A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13 CPDV O Lord, Hope of Israel: all who forsake you will be confounded. Those who withdraw from you will be written into the earth. For they have abandoned the Lord, the Source of living waters. BSB BSB: O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
14 CPDV Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved. For you are my praise. BSB BSB: Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.
15 CPDV Behold, they themselves are saying to me: ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.’ BSB BSB: Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
16 CPDV But I am not troubled; I am following you as my shepherd. And I have not desired the day of man, as you know. That which has gone forth from my lips has been right in your sight. BSB BSB: But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.
17 CPDV May you not be a dread to me. You are my hope in the day of affliction. BSB BSB: Do not become a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18 CPDV May those who persecute me be confounded, but may I not be confounded. May they be fearful, and may I not be fearful. Lead over them the day of affliction, and crush them with a double destruction.” BSB BSB: Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but do not let me be terrified. Bring upon them the day of disaster and shatter them with double destruction.
Restoring the Sabbath (Nehemiah 13:15–22)
19 CPDV Thus says the Lord to me: “Go, and stand at the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and depart, and at all the gates of Jerusalem. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; and stand at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
20 CPDV And you shall say to them: Listen to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and all of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter through these gates.” BSB BSB: Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, all people of Judah and Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21 CPDV Thus says the Lord: “Guard your souls, and do not choose to carry heavy things on the day of the Sabbath, nor should you carry these things through the gates of Jerusalem. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
22 CPDV And do not be willing to cast burdens out of your houses on the day of the Sabbath, nor should you do any work. Sanctify the day of the Sabbath, just as I instructed your fathers. BSB BSB: You must not carry a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day, but you must keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers.
23 CPDV But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear. Instead, they hardened their neck, lest they listen to me and receive discipline. BSB BSB: Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.
24 CPDV And this shall be: If you listen to me, says the Lord, so that you do not carry in burdens through the gates of this city on the day of the Sabbath, and if you sanctify the day of the Sabbath, so that you do not do work in it, BSB BSB: If, however, you listen carefully to Me, says the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and do no work on it,
25 CPDV then there will enter through the gates of this city: kings and princes, sitting on the throne of David, and riding on chariots and horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever. BSB BSB: then kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, along with the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
26 CPDV And they will arrive from the cities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountainous regions, and from the south, carrying holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense. And they will carry an oblation into the house of the Lord. BSB BSB: And people will come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the foothills, the hill country, and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
27 CPDV But if you will not listen to me, to sanctify the day of the Sabbath, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring these things through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire at its gates, and it will devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it will not be extinguished.” BSB BSB: But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.