Jeremiah 17:1-11

New King James Version

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

17 “The sin of Judah is ^(A)written with a ^(B)pen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is ^(C)engraved
On the tablet of their heart,
And on the horns of your altars,
²While their children remember
Their altars and their ^(D)wooden^[a] images
By the green trees on the high hills.
³O My mountain in the field,
I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures,
And your high places of sin within all your borders.
⁴And you, even yourself,
Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In ^(E)the land which you do not know;
For ^(F)you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”

⁵Thus says the Lord:

^(G)“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes ^(H)flesh his ^[b]strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
⁶For he shall be ^(I)like a shrub in the desert,
And ^(J)shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
^(K)In a salt land which is not inhabited.

⁷“Blessed^(L) is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
⁸For he shall be ^(M)like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not ^[c]fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

⁹“The ^(N)heart is deceitful above all things,
And ^[d]desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
¹⁰I, the Lord, ^(O)search the heart,
I test the ^[e]mind,
^(P)Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹“As a partridge that ^[f]broods but does not hatch,
So is he who gets riches, but not by right;
It ^(Q)will leave him in the midst of his days,
And at his end he will be ^(R)a fool.”