Jeremiah 17
27 verses
Judah's sin is inscribed on their hearts with an iron pen, establishing that apostasy is so deeply internalized that external judgment is necessary to effect inner transformation, while the prophet announces that those who trust in humans rather than YHWH will be cursed as shrubs in wastelands, unable to perceive good when it comes, in contrast to those blessed by trusting YHWH as planted by water with roots reaching to springs. The meditation on the human heart's deceitfulness (who can understand it?) establishes that divine judgment is necessary partly because human self-deception is so profound that only YHWH can truly search the heart and reward according to deserts, a theodicy that acknowledges human limitation while justifying divine judgment. Jeremiah's fourth confession pleads for healing and vindication against those who mock him, expressing the prophet's own need for restoration and divine protection, while the Sabbath command—abstaining from carrying burdens through the city gates—becomes a test of obedience that the people will fail, resulting in judgment through fire. The chapter's reflection on human nature and divine knowledge establishes anthropological despair (the human heart is desperately wicked) alongside covenantal hope that YHWH, the source of healing and life, remains accessible through faithful trust.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
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2
Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
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3
O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.
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4
And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
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5
Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
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6
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
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7
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
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8
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
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9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
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10
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
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11
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
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12
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
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13
O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
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14
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
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15
Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now.
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16
As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
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17
Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
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18
Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
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19
Thus said the Lord unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
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20
And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
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21
Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
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22
Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
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23
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
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24
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
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25
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.
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26
And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
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27
But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
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