Jeremiah 17:1-13

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 17:1-13 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.

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]

Footnotes

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