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17. Keeping the Sabbath

¹ “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,
   inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts
   and on the horns of their altars.
² Even their children remember
   their altars and Asherah poles That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
beside the spreading trees
   and on the high hills.
³ My mountain in the land
   and your Or hills / and the mountains of the land. / Your wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,
   together with your high places,
   because of sin throughout your country.
⁴ Through your own fault you will lose
   the inheritance I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies
   in a land you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
   and it will burn forever.”

⁵ This is what the LORD says:

   “Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
   who draws strength from mere flesh
   and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
   they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
   in a salt land where no one lives.

    ⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
   whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
   that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
   its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
   and never fails to bear fruit.”

    ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
   and beyond cure.
   Who can understand it?

    ¹⁰ “I the LORD search the heart
   and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
   according to what their deeds deserve.”

    ¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
   are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
   and in the end they will prove to be fools.

    ¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
   is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ LORD, you are the hope of Israel;
   all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
   because they have forsaken the LORD,
   the spring of living water.

    ¹⁴ Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed;
   save me and I will be saved,
   for you are the one I praise.
¹⁵ They keep saying to me,
   “Where is the word of the LORD?
   Let it now be fulfilled!”
¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd;
   you know I have not desired the day of despair.
   What passes my lips is open before you.
¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me;
   you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame,
   but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
   but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
   destroy them with double destruction.

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹ This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, Or Army through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰ Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. ²¹ This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²² Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. ²³ Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. ²⁴ But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, ²⁵ then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶ People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD. ²⁷ But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”

By these words he means that they, after having for a long time made many evasions, would yet be brought to judgment, willing or unwilling; for they could not possibly deprive God of his right, that he should not be the judge of the world, and thus render to each the reward of his own works: for the Prophet does not speak of merits or of virtues, but only shews that how much soever the ungodly might hide themselves, they could not yet escape the tribunal of God, but that they must at last render an account to him.

We may further gather from this passage a general truth, — that the recesses of the heart are so hidden, that no judgment can be formed of man by any human being. We indeed know that there are appearances of virtue in many; but it belongs to God alone to search the hearts of men and to try the reins. Rashly then do many form an estimate of man’s character according to their own apprehensions or the measure of their own knowledge; for the heart of man is ever false and deceitful. If any one objects and says, that Jeremiah speaks of the Jews then living, there is an answer given by Paul,

“Whatsoever things are written in the Law pertain to all.” (Romans 15:4.)

Described then is here the character of all mankind, until God regenerates his elect. As then there is no purity except from the Spirit of God, as long as mencontinue in their own nature, their hearts are full of deceits and frauds. So the fairest splendor is nothing but hypocrisy, which is abominable in the sight of God. Let us proceed —