Jeremiah 17:1–9

¹⸤The Lord says,⸥ “Judah’s sin is written with an iron pen. 

It is engraved with a diamond point 

on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. 

²Even their children remember their altars 

and their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah 

beside large trees on high hills 

³and on mountains in the open country.^a

I will turn your wealth and all your treasures into loot. 

I will do this because of your worship sites and your sin 

throughout all your territory. 

⁴You will lose the inheritance that I gave you. 

I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you haven’t heard of. 

I will do this because you have stirred up the fire of my anger. 

It will burn forever. 

⁵“This is what the Lord says: 

Cursed is the person who trusts humans, 

who makes flesh and blood his strength 

and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 

⁶He will be like a bush in the wilderness. 

He will not see when something good comes. 

He will live in the dry places in the desert, 

in a salty land where no one can live. 

⁷Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord. 

The Lord will be his confidence. 

⁸He will be like a tree that is planted by water. 

It will send its roots down to a stream. 

It will not be afraid in the heat of summer. 

Its leaves will turn green. 

It will not be anxious during droughts. 

It will not stop producing fruit. 

⁹“The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. 

No one can understand how deceitful it is.