For their obstinacy in sin the Jews shall be led captive. He is cursed that trusts in flesh. God alone searches the heart, giving to every one as he deserves. The prophet prays to be delivered from his enemies, and preaches up the observance of the sabbath.

¹ “The sin of Judah has been written with a pen of iron and a point of diamond. It has been engraved upon the breadth of their heart and upon the horns of their shrines.

² And their sons make a remembrance of their shrines, and their sacred groves, and their leafy trees on high mountains,

³ by sacrificing in the field. And so, I will give over your strength and all your treasures to be despoiled, along with your exalted places of sin, within all your borders.

⁴ And you will be left behind without your inheritance, which I gave to you. And I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in my fury; it shall burn, even unto eternity.”

⁵ Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is a man who trusts in man, and who establishes what is flesh as his right arm, and whose heart withdraws from the Lord.

⁶ For he will be like a saltcedar tree in the desert. And he will not perceive it, when what is good has arrived. Instead, he will live in dryness, in a desert, in a land of salt, which is uninhabitable.¹²

1. 17:6The saltcedar or tamarisk tree produces seed which is not hardy and which requires moist soil to germinate. Thus, a tamarisk in the desert would not produce successful offspring.(Conte)
2. 17:6Tamaric: A barren shrub that grows in the driest parts of the wilderness.(Challoner)

⁷ Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, for the Lord will be his confidence.

⁸ And he will be like a tree planted beside waters, which sends out its roots to moist soil. And it will not fear when the heat arrives. And its leaves will be green. And in the time of drought, it will not be anxious, nor will it cease at any time to bear fruit.

⁹ The heart is depraved above all things, and it is unsearchable, who can know it?

¹⁰ I am the Lord, who examines the heart and tests the temperament, who gives to each one according to his way and according to the fruit of his own decisions.

¹¹ A partridge has hatched eggs that she did not lay; a man has gathered riches, but without judgment. In the midst of his days, he will leave it all behind, and he will be foolish concerning his very end.”

¹² “A high and glorious throne is the place of our sanctification from the beginning.

¹³ O Lord, Hope of Israel: all who forsake you will be confounded. Those who withdraw from you will be written into the earth. For they have abandoned the Lord, the Source of living waters.

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved. For you are my praise.

¹⁵ Behold, they themselves are saying to me: ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.’

¹⁶ But I am not troubled; I am following you as my shepherd. And I have not desired the day of man, as you know. That which has gone forth from my lips has been right in your sight.

¹⁷ May you not be a dread to me. You are my hope in the day of affliction.

¹⁸ May those who persecute me be confounded, but may I not be confounded. May they be fearful, and may I not be fearful. Lead over them the day of affliction, and crush them with a double destruction.”¹

1. 17:18Let them be confounded, etc: Such expressions as these in the writings of the prophets, are not to be understood as imprecations proceeding from malice or desire of revenge: but as prophetic predictions of evils that were about to fall upon impenitent sinners, and approbations of the ways of divine justice.(Challoner)

¹⁹ Thus says the Lord to me: “Go, and stand at the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and depart, and at all the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ And you shall say to them: Listen to the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and all of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter through these gates.”

²¹ Thus says the Lord: “Guard your souls, and do not choose to carry heavy things on the day of the Sabbath, nor should you carry these things through the gates of Jerusalem.

²² And do not be willing to cast burdens out of your houses on the day of the Sabbath, nor should you do any work. Sanctify the day of the Sabbath, just as I instructed your fathers.

²³ But they did not listen, nor did they incline their ear. Instead, they hardened their neck, lest they listen to me and receive discipline.

²⁴ And this shall be: If you listen to me, says the Lord, so that you do not carry in burdens through the gates of this city on the day of the Sabbath, and if you sanctify the day of the Sabbath, so that you do not do work in it,

²⁵ then there will enter through the gates of this city: kings and princes, sitting on the throne of David, and riding on chariots and horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever.

²⁶ And they will arrive from the cities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plains, and from the mountainous regions, and from the south, carrying holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense. And they will carry an oblation into the house of the Lord.

²⁷ But if you will not listen to me, to sanctify the day of the Sabbath, and not to carry burdens, and not to bring these things through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire at its gates, and it will devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it will not be extinguished.”