Jeremiah 17:2-12

2 As they remember their ¹children, So they remember their altars and their ²Asherim By ³green trees on the high hills.

3 O ⁴mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will ⁵give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

4 And you will, even of yourself, ⁶let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your ⁷enemies In the ⁸land which you do not know; For you have ⁹kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever *.

5 Thus says the LORD, "¹⁰Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes ¹¹flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 "For he will be like a ¹²bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A ¹³land of salt without inhabitant.

7 "¹⁴Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose ¹⁵trust is the LORD.

8 "For he will be like a ¹⁶tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of ¹⁷drought Nor cease to yield fruit.

9 "The ¹⁸heart is more ¹⁹deceitful than all else And is desperately ²⁰sick; Who can understand it?

10 "I, the LORD, ²¹search the heart, I test the mind, Even ²²to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

11 "As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who ²³makes a fortune, but unjustly *; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a ²⁴fool."

12 ²⁵A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary.

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Jeremiah 17:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 17

This chapter is a further prophecy of the destruction of the Jews, with the causes of it, their sins, as their idolatry, which was notorious; of which their own consciences, their altars, and their children, were witnesses, Jer 17:1,2 for which they are threatened with the spoil of their substance and treasure, and discontinuance in their land, Jer 17:3,4 as also their confidence in an arm of flesh, which brought the curse of God upon them, when such are blessed that trust in him; and the difference between those that trust in men and those that trust in the Lord is illustrated by very apt similes, Jer 17:5-8, the source of which vain confidence is the wicked heart of man, known to none but God, Jer 17:9,10 and the vanity of it is exposed by a partridge sitting on eggs without hatching them, Jer 17:11, and their departure from God, by trusting in the creature, and in outward things, is aggravated by their temple being the throne and seat of the divine Majesty; by what God is to his people that trust in him; and by the shame and ruin that follow an apostasy from him, Jer 17:12,13, wherefore the prophet, sensible of his own backslidings, prays to be healed and saved by the Lord, who should have all the praise and glory, Jer 17:14 and then relates the scoffs of the people at the word of God by him, another cause of their ruin; declares his own innocence and integrity; prays for protection and security from fear in a time of trouble; and for confusion, terror, and destruction to his persecutors, Jer 17:15-18, then follows an order to him from the Lord, to go and stand in the gate of the city, and exhort all ranks of men to the observation of the sabbath, with directions how to keep it, which had not been observed by their fathers, and which was another cause of their ruin, Jer 17:19-23, and the chapter is closed with promises of blessings in city, court, and country, in church and state, should they religiously observe the sabbath day; but if they profaned it, the city of Jerusalem, and its palaces, should be burnt with fire, Jer 17:24-27.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 25

1. Jeremiah 7:18
2. Exodus 34:13; 2 Chronicles 24:18; 2 Chronicles 33:3; Isaiah 17:8
3. Jeremiah 3:6
4. Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12
5. 2 Kings 24:13; Isaiah 39:4-6; Jeremiah 15:13; Jeremiah 20:5
6. Jeremiah 12:7; Lamentations 5:2
7. Deuteronomy 28:48; Isaiah 14:3; Jeremiah 15:14; Jeremiah 27:12, 13
8. Jeremiah 16:13
9. Isaiah 5:25; Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 15:14
10. Psalms 146:3; Isaiah 2:22; Isaiah 30:1; Ezekiel 29:7
11. 2 Chronicles 32:8; Isaiah 31:3
12. Jeremiah 48:6
13. Deuteronomy 29:23; Job 39:6
14. Psalms 2:12; Psalms 34:8; Psalms 84:12; Proverbs 16:20
15. Psalms 40:4
16. Psalms 1:3; Psalms 92:12-14; Ezekiel 31:3-9
17. Jeremiah 14:1-6
18. Ecclesiastes 9:3; Mark 7:21, 22
19. Romans 7:11; Ephesians 4:22
20. Isaiah 1:5, 6; Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15; Mark 2:17; Romans 1:21
21. 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalms 139:23; Proverbs 17:3; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 20:12; Romans 8:27; Revelation 2:23
22. Psalms 62:12; Jeremiah 32:19; Romans 2:6
23. Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; Jeremiah 22:13, 17
24. Luke 12:20
25. Jeremiah 3:17; Jeremiah 14:21

Footnotes 6

[a]. I.e. wooden symbols of a female deity
[b]. Lit "arm"
[c]. Lit "and is not inhabited"
[d]. Lit "kidneys"
[e]. Lit "fruit"
[f]. Lit "his"