Jeremiah 17:1-6

1 "Judah's sin is carved with an iron tool. It is written with a sharp stone. It is carved on the tablets of their hearts. It is written on the horns that stick out from the corners of their altars.
2 Even their children offer sacrifices to other gods on those altars. They use the poles that were made to worship the goddess Asherah. They worship strange gods beside the green trees and on the high hills.
3 I will give away my holy Mount Zion to the Babylonians. Your enemies will carry off your wealth and all of your treasures. I will give away your high places. That will happen because you have sinned. You have done it all through your country.
4 You will lose the land I gave you. And it will be your own fault. I will make you slaves to your enemies. You will serve them in a land you have not had anything to do with before. You have set my anger on fire. It will burn forever."
5 The LORD says, "Those who trust in man are under my curse. They depend on human strength. Their hearts turn away from me.
6 They will be like a bush in a dry and empty land. They will not enjoy success when it comes. They will live in dry places in the desert. It is a land of salt where no one else lives.

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Jeremiah 17:1-6 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.

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