Jeremiah 16
The Lord instructs Jeremiah (for his protection)
-Don’t marry or have children in this place because the children and parents in this city
will die from terrible diseases, war, and famine. Their bodies will be food for the
vultures and wild animals.
-Don’t go to the funerals to mourn for these people nor show sympathy for them. For I
have removed my protection and peace from them. (Are you in a place of God’s pro-
tection and peace in your life?)
-I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. (What a serious consequence!)
-No one will bury them. No one will offer a meal to comfort the mourners, not even for
the death of a mother or a father. No one will console them.
-Do not go to their feasts and parties.
-Don’t eat and drink with them at all.
-In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and
laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be
heard. (Life without God’s fellowship; He is the source of our joy.)
-The people will ask you why God has decreed such terrible things against them. They
will ask, “What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the
Lord?” (Don’t know God’s heart!)
-Tell the people, “Your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshipped and served
other gods. They abandoned me. They did not keep my law. And you are even worse.
You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.
-So, I will throw you out of this land (out of God’s place of protection you) and send
you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can
worship idols all you like, and I will grant you no favors. (still in God’s sight, but out
of the security of his faithful care and personal intervention on a daily basis)
God offers hope
-But the time is coming when I will bring them back to this land that I gave their
ancestors. (restoration)
-But now, I am sending people to hunt them down. I am watching them closely, and
I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. I will punish them doubly for all
their sins, because they have defiled my land. (the place of protection and provision)
and filled my inheritance with their evil deeds (rejection of God’s promises).
Jeremiah’s prayer
-Lord, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble!
-Nations from around the world will acknowledge the foolishness of worshipping
worthless idols when you show them your power and might. At last, they will know
that you are the Lord.
Jeremiah 17
Judah’s sin and punishment
-The Lord said that His people act like their evil ways are laws to be obeyed, inscribed
on their stony hearts. Even their children worship idols. (What example have you been
for your children?)
-Because of this rampant sin, God will give their wealth and treasures to their enemies.
-The wonderful inheritance (blessings) God had reserved for His people will slip out of
their hands and they will be sent away as captives to foreign lands.
-God’s anger was kindled into a roaring fire that will burn forever.
God’s wisdom
-“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from
the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert with no hope for the future.”
-“But, blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and
confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep
into the water.” They aren’t bothered by the heat or worried by long months of
drought. They stay green and go on producing delicious fruit.”
-The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked.
-The Lord searches all hearts and examines secret motives. He gives all people their
due rewards according to what their actions deserve.
Jeremiah trusts the Lord
-Those who get their wealth by unjust means will eventually lose their riches, and at the
end of their lives, they will become poor old fools.
-Lord, hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced and shamed for they
have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
-We worship at your throne, eternal, high, and glorious Lord.
-Lord, you alone can heal. You alone can save. My praises are for you alone.
-People scoff at me and question the truth and authority of your messages to me (they
doubt God’s Word).
-Lord, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your people. (faithfulness to truth)
I haven’t urged you to send disaster. It is your message (your will), not my own.
-Lord, don’t dessert me now. You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.
-Bring shame and terror on all who persecute me, but give me peace. (Help me to under-
stand and accept your plan.)
God instructs Jeremiah about the Sabbath Day
-Go and stand at the gates and tell all the people this message.
-Listen to this message from the Lord. Listen to my warning and live! Stop carrying
on your trade on the Sabbath Day. Don’t work on the Sabbath Day; make it a Holy day.
I gave these instructions to your ancestors, but they wouldn’t listen nor respond to
discipline.
-If you obey me and keep the Sabbath Day Holy, then this nation will continue forever.
(You will be in a position to be used by God to reach the world). People will come from
all over with their offerings and sacrifices to the temple.
-If you do not listen and refuse to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, then I will set fire to
the gates and it will spread to the palaces. No one will be able to put out the flames.
Next
Jeremiah 1-2
Jeremiah 3-4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10-11
Jeremiah 12-13
Jeremiah 14-15
Jeremiah 16-17
Jeremiah 18
