Jeremiah 17:1–9

The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful

^1–217“Judah’s sin is engraved

with a steel chisel,

A steel chisel with a diamond point—

engraved on their granite hearts,

engraved on the stone corners of their altars.

The evidence against them is plain to see:

sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines

Anywhere there’s a grove of trees,

anywhere there’s an available hill.

^3–4“I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands

for giving away everything you have.

All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations

for your sins all over the country.

You’ll lose your gift of land,

The inheritance I gave you.

I’ll make you slaves of your enemies

in a far-off and strange land.

My anger is hot and blazing and fierce,

and no one will put it out.”

^5–6God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one

who depends on mere humans,

Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone

and sets God aside as dead weight.

He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,

out of touch with the good earth.

He lives rootless and aimless

in a land where nothing grows.

^7–8“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,

the woman who sticks with God.

They’re like trees replanted in Eden,

putting down roots near the rivers—

Never a worry through the hottest of summers,

never dropping a leaf,

Serene and calm through droughts,

bearing fresh fruit every season.

^9–10“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,

a puzzle that no one can figure out.