Jérémie 17:1-11

1 Le péché de Juda est écrit avec un burin de fer, Avec une pointe de diamant; Il est gravé sur la table de leur coeur, Et sur les cornes de vos autels.

2 Comme ils pensent à leurs enfants, ainsi pensent-ils à leurs autels Et à leurs idoles d'Astarté près des arbres verts, Sur les collines élevées.

3 Je livre au pillage ma montagne et ses champs, tes biens, tous tes trésors, Et tes hauts lieux, à cause de tes péchés, sur tout ton territoire.

4 Tu perdras par ta faute l'héritage que je t'avais donné; Je t'asservirai à ton ennemi dans un pays que tu ne connais pas; Car vous avez allumé le feu de ma colère, Et il brûlera toujours.

5 Ainsi parle l'Eternel: Maudit soit l'homme qui se confie dans l'homme, Qui prend la chair pour son appui, Et qui détourne son coeur de l'Eternel!

6 Il est comme un misérable dans le désert, Et il ne voit point arriver le bonheur; Il habite les lieux brûlés du désert, Une terre salée et sans habitants.

7 Béni soit l'homme qui se confie dans l'Eternel, Et dont l'Eternel est l'espérance!

8 Il est comme un arbre planté près des eaux, Et qui étend ses racines vers le courant; Il n'aperçoit point la chaleur quand elle vient, Et son feuillage reste vert; Dans l'année de la sécheresse, il n'a point de crainte, Et il ne cesse de porter du fruit.

9 Le coeur est tortueux par-dessus tout, et il est méchant: Qui peut le connaître?

10 Moi, l'Eternel, j'éprouve le coeur, je sonde les reins, Pour rendre à chacun selon ses voies, Selon le fruit de ses oeuvres.

11 Comme une perdrix qui couve des oeufs qu'elle n'a point pondus, Tel est celui qui acquiert des richesses injustement; Au milieu de ses jours il doit les quitter, Et à la fin il n'est qu'un insensé.

Jérémie 17:1-11 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.