Jeremías 17

1 «El pecado de Judá está escritocon cincel de hierro;grabado está con punta de diamantesobre la tabla de su corazóny sobre los cuernos de sus altares.

2 Bien que se acuerdan sus hijosde sus altares junto a árboles frondosos;de sus imágenes de Aserá sobre altas colinas

3 y sobre mi montaña a campo abierto.»Entregaré como botín tu riqueza,tus tesoros y tus santuarios paganos,por todos tus pecadosen todo tu territorio.

4 Por tu culpa perderás la herenciaque yo te había dado.Te haré esclava de tus enemigos,en un país para ti desconocido,porque has encendido mi ira,la cual se mantendrá ardiendo para siempre».

5 Así dice el SEÑOR:«¡Maldito el hombre que confía en el hombre!¡Maldito el que se apoya en su propia fuerzay aparta su corazón del SEÑOR!

6 Será como una zarza en el desierto:no se dará cuenta cuando llegue el bien.Morará en la sequedad del desierto,en tierras de sal, donde nadie habita.

7 »Bendito el hombre que confía en el SEÑORy pone su confianza en él.

8 Será como un árbol plantado junto al agua,que extiende sus raíces hacia la corriente;no teme que llegue el calor,y sus hojas están siempre verdes.En época de sequía no se angustia,y nunca deja de dar fruto».

9 Nada hay tan engañoso como el corazón.No tiene remedio.¿Quién puede comprenderlo?

10 «Yo, el SEÑOR, sondeo el corazóny examino los pensamientos,para darle a cada uno según sus accionesy según el fruto de sus obras».

11 El que acapara riquezas injustases perdiz que empolla huevos ajenos.En la mitad de la vida las perderá,y al final no será más que un insensato.

12 Trono de gloria,exaltado desde el principio,es el lugar de nuestro santuario.

13 SEÑOR, tú eres la esperanza de Israel,todo el que te abandona quedará avergonzado.El que se aparta de tiquedará como algo escrito en el polvo,porque abandonó al SEÑOR,al manantial de aguas vivas.

14 Sáname, SEÑOR, y seré sanado;sálvame y seré salvado,porque tú eres mi alabanza.

15 No falta quien me pregunte:«¿Dónde está la palabra del SEÑOR?¡Que se haga realidad!»

16 Pero yo no me he apresuradoa abandonarte y dejar de ser tu pastor,ni he deseado que venga el día de la calamidad.Tú bien sabes lo que he dicho,pues lo dije en tu presencia.

17 No seas para mí un motivo de terror;tú eres mi refugio en tiempos de calamidad.

18 ¡No me pongas a mí en vergüenza;avergüénzalos a ellos!¡No me llenes de terror a mí;aterrorízalos a ellos!Envíales tiempos difíciles;¡destrózalos, y vuelve a destrozarlos!

La observancia del sábado

19 Así me dijo el SEÑOR: «Ve y párate en la puerta del Pueblo, por donde entran y salen los reyes de Judá, y luego en todas las puertas de Jerusalén,

20 y diles: “¡Escuchen la palabra del SEÑOR, reyes de Judá, y toda la gente de Judá y todos los habitantes de Jerusalén que entran por estas puertas!

21 Así dice el SEÑOR: ‘Cuídense bien de no llevar ninguna carga en día sábado, y de no meterla por las puertas de Jerusalén.

22 Tampoco saquen ninguna carga de sus casas en día sábado, ni hagan ningún tipo de trabajo. Observen el reposo del sábado, tal como se lo ordené a sus antepasados.

23 Pero ellos no me prestaron atención ni me obedecieron, sino que se obstinaron y no quisieron escuchar ni recibir corrección.

24 »“‘Si de veras me obedecen —afirma el SEÑOR— y no meten ninguna carga por las puertas de esta ciudad en día sábado, sino que observan este día no haciendo ningún trabajo,

25 entonces entrarán por las puertas de esta ciudad reyes y príncipes que se sentarán en el trono de David. Ellos y los príncipes entrarán montados en carros y caballos, acompañados por la gente de Judá y por los habitantes de Jerusalén, y esta ciudad será habitada para siempre.

26 Vendrá gente de las ciudades de Judá y de los alrededores de Jerusalén, del territorio de Benjamín y de la Sefelá, de la región montañosa y del Néguev. Traerán a la casa del SEÑORholocaustos y sacrificios, ofrendas de cereal y de incienso, y ofrendas de acción de gracias.

27 Pero si no obedecen ustedes mi mandato de observar el reposo del sábado, y de no llevar carga al entrar en sábado por las puertas de Jerusalén, entonces les prenderé fuego a sus puertas, que no podrá ser apagado y que consumirá los palacios de Jerusalén’”».

Jeremías 17 Commentary

Chapter 17

The fatal consequences of the idolatry of the Jews. (1-4) The happiness of the man that trusts in God; the end of the opposite character. (5-11) The malice of the prophet's enemies. (12-18) The observance of the sabbath. (19-27)

Verses 1-4 The sins which men commit make little impression on their minds, yet every sin is marked in the book of God; they are all so graven upon the table of the heart, that they will all be remembered by the conscience. That which is graven in the heart will become plain in the life; men's actions show the desires and purposes of their hearts. What need we have to humble ourselves before God, who are so vile in his sight! How should we depend on his mercy and grace, begging of God to search and prove us; not to suffer us to be deceived by our own hearts, but to create in us a clean and holy nature by his Spirit!

Verses 5-11 He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope, shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall be fixed in peace and satisfaction of mind; they shall not be anxious in a year of drought. Those who make God their Hope, have enough in him to make up the want of all creature-comforts. They shall not cease from yielding fruit in holiness and good works. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good, and good evil; and cries peace to those to whom it does not belong. Herein the heart is desperately wicked; it is deadly, it is desperate. The case is bad indeed, if the conscience, which should set right the errors of other faculties, is a leader in the delusion. We cannot know our own hearts, nor what they will do in an hour of temptation. Who can understand his errors? Much less can we know the hearts of others, or depend upon them. He that believes God's testimony in this matter, and learns to watch his own heart, will find this is a correct, though a sad picture, and learns many lessons to direct his conduct. But much in our own hearts and in the hearts of others, will remain unknown. Yet whatever wickedness there is in the heart, God sees it. Men may be imposed upon, but God cannot be deceived. He that gets riches, and not by right, though he may make them his hope, never shall have joy of them. This shows what vexation it is to a worldly man at death, that he must leave his riches behind; but though the wealth will not follow to another world, guilt will, and everlasting torment. The rich man takes pains to get an estate, and sits brooding upon it, but never has any satisfaction in it; by sinful courses it comes to nothing. Let us be wise in time; what we get, let us get it honestly; and what we have, use it charitably, that we may be wise for eternity.

Verses 12-18 The prophet acknowledges the favour of God in setting up religion. There is fulness of comfort in God, overflowing, ever-flowing fulness, like a fountain. It is always fresh and clear, like spring-water, while the pleasures of sin are puddle-waters. He prays to God for healing, saving mercy. He appeals to God concerning his faithful discharge of the office to which he was called. He humbly begs that God would own and protect him in the work to which he had plainly called him. Whatever wounds or diseases we find to be in our hearts and consciences, let us apply to the Lord to heal us, to save us, that our souls may praise his name. His hands can bind up the troubled conscience, and heal the broken heart; he can cure the worst diseases of our nature.

Verses 19-27 The prophet was to lay before the rulers and the people of Judah, the command to keep holy the sabbath day. Let them strictly observe the fourth command. If they obeyed this word, their prosperity should be restored. It is a day of rest, and must not be made a day of labour, unless in cases of necessity. Take heed, watch against the profanation of the sabbath. Let not the soul be burdened with the cares of this world on sabbath days. The streams of religion run deep or shallow, according as the banks of the sabbath are kept up or neglected. The degree of strictness with which this ordinance is observed, or the neglect shown towards it, is a good test to find the state of spiritual religion in any land. Let all; by their own example, by attention to their families, strive to check this evil, that national prosperity may be preserved, and, above all, that souls may be saved.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 17

This chapter is a further prophecy of the destruction of the Jews, with the causes of it, their sins, as their idolatry, which was notorious; of which their own consciences, their altars, and their children, were witnesses, Jer 17:1,2 for which they are threatened with the spoil of their substance and treasure, and discontinuance in their land, Jer 17:3,4 as also their confidence in an arm of flesh, which brought the curse of God upon them, when such are blessed that trust in him; and the difference between those that trust in men and those that trust in the Lord is illustrated by very apt similes, Jer 17:5-8, the source of which vain confidence is the wicked heart of man, known to none but God, Jer 17:9,10 and the vanity of it is exposed by a partridge sitting on eggs without hatching them, Jer 17:11, and their departure from God, by trusting in the creature, and in outward things, is aggravated by their temple being the throne and seat of the divine Majesty; by what God is to his people that trust in him; and by the shame and ruin that follow an apostasy from him, Jer 17:12,13, wherefore the prophet, sensible of his own backslidings, prays to be healed and saved by the Lord, who should have all the praise and glory, Jer 17:14 and then relates the scoffs of the people at the word of God by him, another cause of their ruin; declares his own innocence and integrity; prays for protection and security from fear in a time of trouble; and for confusion, terror, and destruction to his persecutors, Jer 17:15-18, then follows an order to him from the Lord, to go and stand in the gate of the city, and exhort all ranks of men to the observation of the sabbath, with directions how to keep it, which had not been observed by their fathers, and which was another cause of their ruin, Jer 17:19-23, and the chapter is closed with promises of blessings in city, court, and country, in church and state, should they religiously observe the sabbath day; but if they profaned it, the city of Jerusalem, and its palaces, should be burnt with fire, Jer 17:24-27.