Jeremiah 17:16 - Prayer Tents



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Jeremiah 17
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The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful

17"Judah's sin is engraved with a steel chisel, A steel chisel with a diamond point— engraved on their granite hearts, engraved on the stone corners of their altars.H2403H3063H3789H5842H1270H6856H8068H2790H3871H3820H7161H4196 2The evidence against them is plain to see: sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines Anywhere there's a grove of trees, anywhere there's an available hill.H1121H2142H4196H842H7488H6086H1364H1389 3"I'll use your mountains as roadside stands for giving away everything you have. All your 'things' will serve as reparations for your sins all over the country.H2042H7704H5414H2428H214H957H1116H2403H1366 4You'll lose your gift of land, The inheritance I gave you. I'll make you slaves of your enemies in a far-off and strange land. My anger is hot and blazing and fierce, and no one will put it out."H8058H5159H5414H5647H341H776H3045H6919H784H639H3344H5704H5769 5GOD's Message: "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets GOD aside as dead weight.H559H3068H779H1397H982H120H7760H1320H2220H3820H5493H3068 6He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.H6199H6160H7200H2896H935H7931H2788H4057H4420H776H3427 7"But blessed is the man who trusts me, GOD, the woman who sticks with GOD.H1288H1397H982H3068H4009H3068 8They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.H6086H8362H4325H7971H8328H3105H7200H2527H935H5929H7488H1672H8141H1226H4185H6213H6529 9"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.H3820H6121H605H3045 10But I, GOD, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be."H3068H2713H3820H974H3629H5414H376H1870H6529H4611 11Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs in another bird's nest Is the person who gets rich by cheating. When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed. What a fool he'll look like then!H7124H1716H3205H6213H6239H4941H5800H2677H3117H319H5036 12From early on your Sanctuary was set high, a throne of glory, exalted!H3519H4791H3678H7223H4725H4720 13O GOD, you're the hope of Israel. All who leave you end up as fools, Deserters with nothing to show for their lives, who walk off from GOD, fountain of living waters— and wind up dead!H3068H4723H3478H5800H954H3249H5493H3789H776H5800H3068H4726H2416H4325 14GOD, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise!H7495H3068H7495H3467H3467H8416 15Listen to how they talk about me: "So where's this 'Word of GOD'? We'd like to see something happen!"H559H1697H3068H935 16But it wasn't my idea to call for Doomsday. I never wanted trouble. You know what I've said. It's all out in the open before you.H213H7462H310H183H605H3117H3045H4161H8193H5227H6440 17Don't add to my troubles. Give me some relief!H4288H4268H3117H7451 18Let those who harass me be harassed, not me. Let them be disgraced, not me. Bring down upon them the day of doom. Lower the boom. Boom!H954H7291H954H2865H2865H935H3117H7451H7665H4932H7670

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

19GOD's Message to me: "Go stand in the People's Gate, the one used by Judah's kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem.H559H3068H1980H5975H8179H1121H5971H4428H3063H935H3318H8179H3389 20Tell them: 'Listen, you kings of Judah, listen to GOD's Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!H559H8085H1697H3068H4428H3063H3063H3427H3389H935H8179 21"'This is GOD's Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there.H559H3068H8104H5315H5375H4853H7676H3117H935H8179H3389 22Don't use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.H3318H4853H1004H7676H3117H6213H4399H6942H7676H3117H6680H1 23They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.H8085H5186H241H6203H7185H8085H3947H4148 24"'But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual.H8085H8085H5002H3068H935H4853H8179H5892H7676H3117H6942H7676H3117H6213H1115H4399 25Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people.H935H8179H5892H4428H8269H3427H3678H1732H7392H7393H5483H8269H376H3063H3427H3389H5892H3427H5769 26People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They'll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary of GOD.H935H5892H3063H5439H3389H776H1144H8219H2022H5045H935H5930H2077H4503H3828H935H8426H1004H3068 27"'But if you won't listen to me, won't keep the Sabbath holy, won't quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I'll burn the gates down. In fact, I'll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!'"H8085H6942H7676H3117H5375H4853H935H8179H3389H7676H3117H3341H784H8179H398H759H3389H3518


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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