CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Jeremiah 17
Chapter 17 of 52
Chapter Overview
What happens in Jeremiah 17
This chapter contains some of Jeremiah's most well-known teachings. Judah's sin is deeply carved into their hearts. Those who trust in human strength will wither, but those who trust in the Lord will thrive like a tree by the water. God tests the heart and gives everyone what they deserve. The chapter closes with a command to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Scripture
Jeremiah 17
Judah's Sin Written on Their Hearts
Study note
Judah's sin is not casual or accidental. It is carved into their hearts with an iron pen and engraved with a diamond point. Their children still remember the pagan altars and worship sites. Because of this, they will lose their homeland.
1 "Judah's sin is carved with an iron pen. It is cut with a diamond point on their hearts and on the corners of their altars." 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;
2 "Even their children remember the pagan altars and the wooden poles used for idol worship. They were beside the green trees on the high hills." Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
3 "I will hand over my mountain out in the countryside. I will give away your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, including your hilltop shrines, as payment for the sins committed across your land." 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.
4 "Because of your own actions, you will lose the land I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a foreign country, because you have lit a fire in my anger that will burn forever." 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.
Trusting in God vs. Trusting in People
Study note
God contrasts two kinds of people. Those who trust in human strength are like a bush in the desert, never seeing any good. But those who trust in the Lord are like a tree planted by water, whose leaves are always green and which always bears fruit. The human heart is deceitful above all things, but God searches every heart.
5 The Lord says, "Cursed is the person who counts on human strength alone. Cursed is the one who depends on people for help while their heart moves away from the Lord." Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
6 "That person will be like a scraggly bush in the desert wasteland. They will never see any good come their way. They will live in the driest, saltiest part of the wilderness where nothing can grow." 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.
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 "That person is like a tree planted right beside a river, with its roots reaching deep toward the water. When the hot weather arrives, it has nothing to worry about. Its leaves stay fresh and green. Even during a year with no rain, it keeps right on producing fruit." 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.
9 "The human heart is the most deceptive thing there is — it is sick beyond cure. Who can truly understand it?" The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 "I, the Lord, look deep into the heart and test what goes on in a person's mind. I reward everyone according to how they live, based on the results their actions produce." 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.
11 "A person who gets rich through dishonesty is like a bird sitting on eggs it didn't lay. Halfway through life, all that wealth will disappear, and in the end, that person will be exposed as a fool." 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.
Jeremiah's Prayer for Help
Study note
Jeremiah turns to God in prayer, calling him the hope of Israel. He asks for healing and salvation. His enemies mock him, asking where God's word of judgment is. Jeremiah has faithfully served as God's shepherd and asks for protection.
12 Our Temple is like a wonderful throne, set up high from the very start. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Lord, you are the hope of Israel. Everyone who walks away from you will be put to shame. Those who turn their backs on you will have their names written in the dust, because they have abandoned the Lord, the spring of living water. 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.
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will truly be healed. Rescue me, and I will truly be rescued. You are the one I praise. Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
15 People keep taunting me: "So where is this word of the Lord? When is it going to happen?" Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16 I haven't run from my job as your shepherd. I never wished for the day of disaster to come. You know that every word I spoke was said right in your presence. 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.
17 Please don't become a source of terror to me. You are my safe place when disaster strikes. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let the people who attack me be humiliated — but don't let me be humiliated. Let them be terrified — but don't let me be terrified. Bring the day of disaster on them. Crush them with double destruction. 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.
Keeping the Sabbath Holy
Study note
God sends Jeremiah to stand at the gates of Jerusalem with a message about the Sabbath. If the people will honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, Jerusalem will last forever and kings will continue to rule from David's throne. But if they refuse, God will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire.
19 The Lord told me, "Go stand at the People's Gate, the one the kings of Judah use to go in and out. Then stand at every other gate of Jerusalem too." 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;
20 "Tell them, 'Listen to the Lord's message, you kings of Judah. Listen, all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who comes through these gates.'" 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:
21 "The Lord says: Be very careful not to carry any loads on the Sabbath day. Do not bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem." 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;
22 "Don't carry any loads out of your homes on the Sabbath. Don't do any work at all. Keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I told your ancestors to do." 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.
23 "But your ancestors wouldn't listen or pay attention. They were so stubborn that they refused to hear my words or accept any correction." But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24 "But if you truly obey me," says the Lord, "keep the Sabbath holy. Do not bring loads through the gates on that day. Do not work." 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;
25 "then kings from David's royal line will ride through the city gates in chariots and on horses, with their officials and the people of Judah and Jerusalem. This city will be filled with people forever." 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.
26 "People will come from Judah's towns and villages near Jerusalem. They will come from Benjamin, the western hills, the hill country, and the southern desert. They will bring all kinds of gifts to the Lord's Temple. They will bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, incense, and thank gifts." 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.
27 "But if you will not listen and will not keep the Sabbath holy, I will act. If you carry loads through Jerusalem's gates that day, I will set the gates on fire. It will spread to the palaces. No one will put it out." 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Jeremiah 17
Sin engraved on the heartThe blessed life of trusting in GodThe deceitfulness of the human heartSabbath observance as covenant faithfulnessThe tree planted by water
Prophetic Connections
How this chapter points to Christ
Jeremiah 17:9-10 Revelation 2:23
Jeremiah's declaration that God searches the heart and examines the mind is echoed by the risen Christ, who identifies himself as the one who searches hearts and minds and gives to each according to their deeds.
Apply This Today
Living Jeremiah 17
Those who trust in human strength become like dry shrubs in the desert, but those who trust in the Lord are like trees planted by streams of water. The human heart is deceitful above all things, and only God can truly search and know it. Honest self-examination before God is essential for spiritual health.
Go Deeper
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