Jeremiah 17:5–15

Various Sayings

⁵The Lord says,

“I will condemn those

who turn away from me

and put their trust in human beings,

in the strength of mortals.

⁶They are like bushes in the desert,

which grow in the dry wilderness,

on salty ground where nothing else grows.

Nothing good ever happens to them.

⁷“But I will bless those

who put their trust in me.

^8*They are like trees growing near a stream

and sending out roots to the water.

They are not afraid when hot weather comes,

because their leaves stay green;

they have no worries when there is no rain;

they keep on bearing fruit.

⁹“Who can understand the human heart?

There is nothing else so deceitful;

it is too sick to be healed.

^10*I, the Lord, search human minds

and test human hearts.

I treat each one

according to the way he lives, according to what he does.”

¹¹The person who gets money dishonestly

is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.

In the prime of life he will lose his riches,

and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

¹²Our Temple is like a glorious throne,

standing on a high mountain from the beginning. ¹³Lord, you are Israel’s hope;

all who abandon you will be put to shame.

They will disappear like names written in the dust,^w

because they have abandoned you, the Lord,

the spring of fresh water.

Jeremiah Asks the for Help

¹⁴Lord, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. You are the one I praise!

¹⁵The people say to me, “Where are those threats the Lord made against us? Let him carry them out now!”