Jeremiah 16-17

Jeremiah 16
1-13 Jeremiah's Celibacy and Message

• God tells Jeremiah not to marry or have children, because the children will die of deadly diseases, and there will be no one to mourn them.
• He also tells him not to go to funerals nor to feasts, because he has taken away his peace, love, and mercy, the voice of the bridegroom and bride.
• When the people ask Jeremiah why, he is to tell them because their ancestors abandoned God, and they have behaved even worse than their ancestors.
• Therefore, they will go into a land where they can worship the false gods day and night.

14-21 God Will Restore Israel

• The days will come when people shall add "...and out of all the lands where he had driven them" to "as the LORD lives who brought the people up out of the land of Egypt."
• I am sending fishermen and hunters to fish for and hunt for my people; they will not be able to hide, because they have polluted my land with their idols.

19-20 O LORD, nations shall come to you and admit that their ancestors have lied to them: the gods that mortals make for themselves are no gods.

• Therefore [says the LORD] I will teach them my power and might, and they shall know I am the LORD.

Jeremiah 17
1-13 Judah's Sin and Punishment

• Judah's sin is engraved on their hearts "with a diamond point."
• I will give their wealth as spoil; by their own act they will lose their heritage.

5-6 Cursed are those who trust in other men; they will be like shrubs in a desert, receiving no moisture.
7-8 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD; they are like trees planted by the water, never ceasing to bear fruit.
9-10 The LORD will test men's minds and hearts and give to all according to their ways.
11 All who gain wealth unjustly will lose it, those who are like a "partridge hatching what it did not lay."
12-13 O LORD, hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame, for they have forsaken the living water.

14-18 Jeremiah Prays for Vindication
14 Heal me, LORD, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved.
15 They ask me where your word is and say "Let it come!"
16-18 I have not forsaken you; though my persecutors be shamed, do not let me be shamed.

19-27 Hallow the Sabbath Day

• The LORD to Jeremiah: Go stand in the People's Gate.
• If they honor the sabbath by not working on the sabbath, kings will come through this gate to sit on the throne of David; people from all over will bring offerings to the LORD's house.
  
• But if they do not honor the sabbath, I will start a fire in the gates, and the palaces of Jerusalem will be consumed with an unquenchable fire.
  

Note: Though this warning about the Sabbath Day departs from the pattern a little bit, it seems like so far, this book is just one declaration of God's wrath after another. I have to realize, that though I sometimes read several of these directives from God in the same day, they did not come to Jeremiah all in one day, and perhaps not even in the order they are printed here. It seems repetitive, but they are likely warnings separated by days or weeks that God wants Jeremiah to convey to the people. He keeps warning them of the destruction to come in hope they will repent, while knowing they won't.