Major Prophets · Chapter 17 of 52

Jeremiah 17

Judah's sin is engraved on their hearts as with an iron pen. God contrasts the cursed man who trusts in human strength with the blessed man who trusts the LORD, pictured as a tree planted by water. He declares the heart deceitful beyond knowing, searched only by God who repays each according to his deeds. Jeremiah prays for healing, and God calls the people to honor the Sabbath.

What happens in Jeremiah 17

The chapter opens with Judah's sin indelibly written on their hearts and altars, drawing judgment on their treasures and high places. God then sets two ways before the reader. Cursed is the one who trusts in mere flesh and turns his heart from the LORD; he becomes like a shrub in a parched, salt land. Blessed is the one who trusts and hopes in the LORD; he is like a tree by the waters, green in drought and always fruitful. God diagnoses the human heart as deceitful and desperately wicked, unknowable except to Him who searches it and repays each person.

Jeremiah confesses God as Israel's hope and the fountain of living waters, prays to be healed and saved, and asks vindication against mockers who taunt him for the word's delay. God then sends him to the gates of Jerusalem to command Sabbath keeping, promising enduring life to the city if they obey and fire if they refuse.

Jeremiah 17 in context

Delivered in Judah's final generation, this chapter gathers wisdom-style contrasts, a confession of Jeremiah, and a Sabbath sermon. Its blessed-tree image closely parallels Psalm 1, framing the choice between trusting people and trusting God.

Sabbath observance had become a visible test of covenant loyalty, and the gate sermon addresses kings and commoners alike at Jerusalem's public thresholds where all must pass.

Main themes of Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17 (KJV)

1The 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; 2Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. 3O 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. 4And 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. 5Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 6For 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. 7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8For 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. 9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I 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. 11As 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. 12A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13O 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. 14Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. 15Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. 16As 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. 17Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil. 18Let 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. 19Thus 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; 20And 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: 21Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22Neither 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. 23But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 24And 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; 25Then 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. 26And 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. 27But 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.

Verses to carry from Jeremiah 17

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.”Jeremiah 17:7

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”Jeremiah 17:9

“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.”Jeremiah 17:13

Reflection

Ask honestly where your confidence is planted. Roots in human strength leave us parched when trouble comes, but roots in God keep us green through drought. Since your own heart can deceive you, invite the God who searches hearts to reveal and heal what you cannot see, and drink from His living fountain today.

A prayer from Jeremiah 17