9. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,and desperately wicked.Who really knows how bad it is?
10. But I, the lord, search all heartsand examine secret motives.I give all people their due rewards,according to what their actions deserve.”
11. Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid,so are those who get their wealth by unjust means.At midlife they will lose their riches;in the end, they will become poor old fools.
12. But we worship at your throne—eternal, high, and glorious!
13. O lord, the hope of Israel,all who turn away from you will be disgraced.They will be buried in the dust of the earth,for they have abandoned the lord, the fountain of living water.
14. O lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed;if you save me, I will be truly saved.My praises are for you alone!
15. People scoff at me and say,“What is this ‘message from the lord’ you talk about?Why don’t your predictions come true?”
16. lord, I have not abandoned my jobas a shepherd for your people.I have not urged you to send disaster.You have heard everything I’ve said.
17. lord, don’t terrorize me!You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.
18. Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me,but don’t let me experience shame and dismay.Bring a day of terror on them.Yes, bring double destruction upon them!
19. This is what the lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates.
20. Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from the lord, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.