Jeremiah 17:1–9

Judah’s Guilty Heart

17“The sin of the people of Judah is written with an iron tool.

Their sins were cut with a hard point into the stone that is their hearts.

Their sins were cut into the corners of their altars.

²Even their children remember

their altars to idols and their Asherah idols

beside the green trees

and on the high hills.

³My mountain in the open country

and your wealth and treasures

I will give away to other people.

I will give away the places of worship in your country,

because you sinned by worshiping there.

⁴You will lose the land I gave you,

and it is your own fault.

I will let your enemies take you as their slaves

to a land you have never known.

This is because you have made my anger burn like a hot fire,

and it will burn forever.”

Trusting in Humans or God

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“A curse is placed on those who trust other people,

who depend on humans for strength,

who have stopped trusting the Lord.

⁶They are like a bush in a desert

that grows in a land where no one lives,

a hot and dry land with bad soil.

They don’t know about the good things God can give.

⁷“But the person who trusts in the Lord will be blessed.

The Lord will show him that he can be trusted.

⁸He will be strong, like a tree planted near water

that sends its roots by a stream.

It is not afraid when the days are hot;

its leaves are always green.

It does not worry in a year when no rain comes;

it always produces fruit.

⁹“More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil

and cannot be healed.

Who can understand it?