Jeremiah 17

The Sin of Judah

1 "The sin of Judah is written with ¹a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on ²the tablet of their heart, and on ³the horns of their altars,

2 while ⁴their children remember their altars and their ⁵Asherim, ⁶beside every green tree and on the high hills,

3 ⁷on the mountains in the open country. ⁸Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory.

4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, ⁹and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, ¹⁰for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever."

5 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man ¹¹who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,^[a] whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 ¹²He is like a shrub in the desert, ¹³and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in ¹⁴an uninhabited salt land.

7 ¹⁵"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, ¹⁶whose trust is the LORD.

8 ¹⁷He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

10 ¹⁸"I the LORD search the heart ¹⁹and test the mind,^{[b] 20}to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."

11 Like the ²¹partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is ²²he who gets riches but not by justice; ²³in the midst of his days they will leave him, ²⁴and at his end he will be a fool.

12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

13 O LORD, ²⁵the hope of Israel, ²⁶all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you^[c]27shall be written in the earth, for ²⁸they have forsaken ²⁹the LORD, the fountain of living water.

Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance

14 ³⁰Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for ³¹you are my praise.

15 ³²Behold, they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!"

16 I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. ³³You know ³⁴what came out of my lips; it was before your face.

17 Be not a terror to me; ³⁵you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 ³⁶Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; ³⁷let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; ³⁸bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!

Keep the Sabbath Holy

19 Thus said the LORD to me: "Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which ³⁹the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,

20 and say: 'Hear the word of the LORD, ⁴⁰you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.

21 Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and ⁴¹do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath ⁴²or do any work, but ⁴³keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

23 Yet ⁴⁴they did not listen or incline their ear, ⁴⁵but stiffened their neck, that they ⁴⁶might not hear and receive instruction.

24 "'But if you listen to me, declares the LORD, and ⁴⁷bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but ⁴⁸keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,

25 then ⁴⁹there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever.

26 And people shall come from ⁵⁰the cities of Judah ⁵¹and the places around Jerusalem, ⁵²from the land of Benjamin, ⁵³from the Shephelah, from the hill country, ⁵⁴and from ⁵⁵the Negeb, bringing ⁵⁶burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and ⁵⁷bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.

27 But if you do not listen to me, to ⁵⁸keep the Sabbath day holy, ⁵⁹and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will ⁶⁰kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall ⁶¹devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ⁶²shall not be quenched.'"

Jeremiah 17 Commentary

Chapter 17

The fatal consequences of the idolatry of the Jews. (1-4) The happiness of the man that trusts in God; the end of the opposite character. (5-11) The malice of the prophet's enemies. (12-18) The observance of the sabbath. (19-27)

Verses 1-4 The sins which men commit make little impression on their minds, yet every sin is marked in the book of God; they are all so graven upon the table of the heart, that they will all be remembered by the conscience. That which is graven in the heart will become plain in the life; men's actions show the desires and purposes of their hearts. What need we have to humble ourselves before God, who are so vile in his sight! How should we depend on his mercy and grace, begging of God to search and prove us; not to suffer us to be deceived by our own hearts, but to create in us a clean and holy nature by his Spirit!

Verses 5-11 He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope, shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall be fixed in peace and satisfaction of mind; they shall not be anxious in a year of drought. Those who make God their Hope, have enough in him to make up the want of all creature-comforts. They shall not cease from yielding fruit in holiness and good works. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good, and good evil; and cries peace to those to whom it does not belong. Herein the heart is desperately wicked; it is deadly, it is desperate. The case is bad indeed, if the conscience, which should set right the errors of other faculties, is a leader in the delusion. We cannot know our own hearts, nor what they will do in an hour of temptation. Who can understand his errors? Much less can we know the hearts of others, or depend upon them. He that believes God's testimony in this matter, and learns to watch his own heart, will find this is a correct, though a sad picture, and learns many lessons to direct his conduct. But much in our own hearts and in the hearts of others, will remain unknown. Yet whatever wickedness there is in the heart, God sees it. Men may be imposed upon, but God cannot be deceived. He that gets riches, and not by right, though he may make them his hope, never shall have joy of them. This shows what vexation it is to a worldly man at death, that he must leave his riches behind; but though the wealth will not follow to another world, guilt will, and everlasting torment. The rich man takes pains to get an estate, and sits brooding upon it, but never has any satisfaction in it; by sinful courses it comes to nothing. Let us be wise in time; what we get, let us get it honestly; and what we have, use it charitably, that we may be wise for eternity.

Verses 12-18 The prophet acknowledges the favour of God in setting up religion. There is fulness of comfort in God, overflowing, ever-flowing fulness, like a fountain. It is always fresh and clear, like spring-water, while the pleasures of sin are puddle-waters. He prays to God for healing, saving mercy. He appeals to God concerning his faithful discharge of the office to which he was called. He humbly begs that God would own and protect him in the work to which he had plainly called him. Whatever wounds or diseases we find to be in our hearts and consciences, let us apply to the Lord to heal us, to save us, that our souls may praise his name. His hands can bind up the troubled conscience, and heal the broken heart; he can cure the worst diseases of our nature.

Verses 19-27 The prophet was to lay before the rulers and the people of Judah, the command to keep holy the sabbath day. Let them strictly observe the fourth command. If they obeyed this word, their prosperity should be restored. It is a day of rest, and must not be made a day of labour, unless in cases of necessity. Take heed, watch against the profanation of the sabbath. Let not the soul be burdened with the cares of this world on sabbath days. The streams of religion run deep or shallow, according as the banks of the sabbath are kept up or neglected. The degree of strictness with which this ordinance is observed, or the neglect shown towards it, is a good test to find the state of spiritual religion in any land. Let all; by their own example, by attention to their families, strive to check this evil, that national prosperity may be preserved, and, above all, that souls may be saved.

Cross References

• 1. Job 19:24
• 2. Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3; [2 Corinthians 3:3]
• 3. Exodus 27:2; Psalms 118:27
• 4. [Jeremiah 19:5]
• 5. Judges 3:7; See Deuteronomy 16:21
• 6. [Isaiah 1:29]; See Jeremiah 2:20
• 7. Psalms 48:1, 2; Psalms 87:1; Isaiah 2:3
• 8. Jeremiah 15:13
• 9. See Jeremiah 15:14
• 10. See Deuteronomy 32:22
• 11. 2 Chronicles 32:8; Psalms 146:3
• 12. Jeremiah 48:6
• 13. Jeremiah 29:32; Job 20:17; Psalms 34:12
• 14. Deuteronomy 29:23; Job 39:6
• 15. Psalms 25:2; Psalms 34:8; Psalms 125:1; See Psalms 2:12
• 16. Psalms 71:5
• 17. Psalms 1:3; [Ezekiel 47:12]
• 18. 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalms 139:23; Romans 8:27
• 19. See Jeremiah 11:20
• 20. Jeremiah 32:19; Job 34:11; Psalms 62:12
• 21. [1 Samuel 26:20]
• 22. Psalms 39:6
• 23. [Psalms 55:23]
• 24. [Luke 12:20]
• 25. See Jeremiah 14:8
• 26. Joshua 24:20; Psalms 73:27; Isaiah 1:28
• 27. [Luke 10:20]
• 28. Jeremiah 1:16
• 29. Jeremiah 2:13; [John 4:10, 14]
• 30. Psalms 6:2
• 31. Deuteronomy 10:21
• 32. Isaiah 5:19; 2 Peter 3:4
• 33. Jeremiah 15:15; Psalms 40:9; Psalms 139:4
• 34. Jeremiah 15:15; Psalms 40:9; Psalms 139:4
• 35. Jeremiah 16:19
• 36. Psalms 35:4; Psalms 40:14
• 37. Psalms 35:4; Psalms 40:14
• 38. Jeremiah 11:20; Psalms 35:8
• 39. See Jeremiah 13:13
• 40. [See ver. 19 above]
• 41. [John 5:10]; See Nehemiah 13:15-19
• 42. See Numbers 15:32-36
• 43. Exodus 23:12; Exodus 31:13; Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 58:13; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; See Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• 44. Jeremiah 7:24, 26; [Jeremiah 11:10]
• 45. [2 Chronicles 30:8; Acts 7:51]
• 46. See Jeremiah 5:3
• 47. [See ver. 21 above]
• 48. [See ver. 22 above]
• 49. Jeremiah 22:4
• 50. Jeremiah 32:44; Jeremiah 33:13
• 51. Zechariah 7:7
• 52. Jeremiah 32:44; Jeremiah 33:13
• 53. Zechariah 7:7
• 54. Zechariah 7:7
• 55. Genesis 13:1
• 56. Leviticus 7:12; Leviticus 22:29; 2 Chronicles 33:16; Psalms 107:22; Psalms 116:17
• 57. Leviticus 7:12; Leviticus 22:29; 2 Chronicles 33:16; Psalms 107:22; Psalms 116:17
• 58. [See ver. 22 above]
• 59. [See ver. 21 above]
• 60. Jeremiah 21:14; Jeremiah 43:12; Jeremiah 49:27; Jeremiah 50:32; Lamentations 4:11; Amos 1:14
• 61. Jeremiah 52:13; 2 Kings 25:9
• 62. Jeremiah 7:20

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew arm
• [b]. Hebrew kidneys
• [c]. Hebrew me

Chapter Summary

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.