6. They are like a bush in a desertthat grows in a land where no one lives,a hot and dry land with bad soil.They don’t know about the good things God can give.
7. “But the person who trusts in the Lord will be blessed.The Lord will show him that he can be trusted.
8. He will be strong, like a tree planted near waterthat sends its roots by a stream.It is not afraid when the days are hot;its leaves are always green.It does not worry in a year when no rain comes;it always produces fruit.
9. “More than anything else, a person’s mind is eviland cannot be healed.Who can understand it?
10. But I, the Lord, look into a person’s heartand test the mind.So I can decide what each one deserves;I can give each one the right payment for what he does.”
11. Like a bird hatching an egg it did not lay,so are the people who get rich by cheating.When their lives are half finished, they will lose their riches.At the end of their lives, it will be clear they were fools.
12. From the beginning, our Temple has been honoredas a glorious throne for God.
13. Lord, hope of Israel,those who leave you will be shamed.People who quit following the Lord will be like a name written in the dust,because they have left the Lord, the spring of living water.
14. Lord, heal me, and I will truly be healed.Save me, and I will truly be saved.You are the one I praise.
15. The people of Judah keep asking me,“Where is the word from the Lord?Let’s see that message come true!”
16. Lord, I didn’t run away from being the shepherd you wanted.I didn’t want the terrible day to come.You know everything I have said;you see all that is happening.
17. Don’t be a terror to me.I run to you for safety in times of trouble.
18. Make those who are hurting me be ashamed,but don’t bring shame to me.Let them be terrified,but keep me from terror.Bring the day of disaster on my enemies.Destroy them, and destroy them again.
19. This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the People’s Gate of Jerusalem, where the kings of Judah go in and out. And then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem.
20. Say to them there: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all you people of Judah, and all who live in Jerusalem, who come through these gates into the city.
21. This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
22. Don’t take a load out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work on that day. But keep the Sabbath as a holy day, as I commanded your ancestors.