¶ Your sin (O ye of the tribe of Iudah) is written in the table of your hearts, and graven so upon the edges of your altars with a pen of iron and with an adamant claw:
that your children also may think upon your altars, woods, thick trees, high hills, mountains and fields.
Wherefore, I will make all your substance and treasure be spoiled, for the great sin that ye have done upon your high places thorowout all the coasts of your land.
Ye shall be cast out also from the heritage, that I gave you. And I will subdue you under the heavy bondage of your enemies, in a land that ye know not. For ye have ministered fire to my indignation, which shall burn evermore.
¶ Thus sayeth the LORD: Cursed be the man that putteth his trust in man, and that taketh flesh for his arm: and he, whose heart departeth from the LORD.
He shall be like the heeth that groweth in the wilderness. As for the good thing that is for to come, he shall not see it: but dwell in a dry place of the wilderness, in a salt and unoccupied land.
O Blissed is the man, that putteth his trust in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is himself.
For he shall be as a tree, that is planted by the water side: which spreadeth out the root unto moistness, whom the heat can not harm, when it cometh, but his leaves are green. And though there grow but little fruit because of drought, yet is he not careful, but he never leaveth off to bring forth fruit.
Among all things living, man hath the most deceitful and unsearchable heart. Who shall then know it?
Even I the LORD search out the ground of the heart, and try the reins, and reward every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his counsels.
The deceitful maketh a nest, but bringeth forth no young: He cometh by riches, but not righteously. In the middest of his life must he leave them behind him, and at the last be found a very fool.
¶ But thou (O LORD) whose throne is most glorious, excellent and of most antiquity, which dwellest in the place of our holy rest:
Thou art the comfort of Israel. All they that forsake thee, shall be confounded: all they that depart from thee, shall be written in earth, for they have forsaken the LORD the very conduit of the waters of life.
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be whole: save thou me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise.
Behold, these men say unto me: Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come.
Where as I nevertheless leading the flock in thy ways, have compelled none by violence. For I never desired any man's death, this knowest thou well. My words also are right before thee.
Be not now terrible unto me, O LORD, for thou art he in whom I hope, when I am in peril.
Let my persecutors be confounded, but not me: let them be afraid, and not me. Thou shalt bring upon them the time of their plague, and shall destroy them right sore.
¶ Again, thus hath the LORD said unto me: Go stond under the gate, where thorow the people and the kings of Iuda go out and in, yea under all the gates of Ierusalem,
and say unto them: Hear the word of the LORD, ye kings of Iuda, and all thou people of Iuda, and all ye citizens of Ierusalem, that go thorow this gate:
Thus the LORD commandeth: Take heed for your lives, that ye carry no burthen upon you in the Sabbath, to bring it thorow the gates of Ierusalem:
ye shall bear no burthen also out of your houses in the Sabbath: Ye shall do no labour there in, but hallow the Sabbath, as I commanded your fathers.
How be it they obeyed me not, neither hearkened they unto me: but were obstinate and stubborn, and neither obeyed me, nor received my correction.
Nevertheless, if ye will hear me (sayeth the LORD) and bear no burthen in to the city thorow this gate upon the Sabbath: If ye will hallow the Sabbath, so that ye do no work therein:
then shall there go thorow the gates of this city, kings and princes, that shall sit upon the stool of David: They shall be carried upon chariots, and ride upon horses, both they and their princes. Yea whole Iuda and all the citizens of Ierusalem shall go here thorow, and this city shall ever be the more and more inhabited.
There shall come men also from the cities of Iudah, from about Ierusalem, and from the land of Ben Iamin, from the plain fields, from the mountains and from the wilderness: which shall bring burntofferings, sacrifices, oblations, and incense, and offer up thanksgiving in the house of the LORD.
But if ye will not be obedient unto me, to hallow the Sabbath: so that ye will bear your burthens thorow the gates of Ierusalem upon the Sabbath: Then shall I set fire upon the gates of Ierusalem, and it shall burn up the houses of Ierusalem, and no man shall be able to quench it.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.