Jeremiah 17:1

Jeremiah 17:1

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

1 “The sin of Judah is ^awritten with a ^bpen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is ^cengraved
On the tablet of their heart,
And on the horns of your altars,

2 While their children remember
Their altars and their ^awooden images
By the green trees on the high hills.

3 O 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.

4 And you, even yourself,
Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In ^athe land which you do not know;
For ^byou have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”

5 Thus says the Lord:
^a“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes ^bflesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.

6 For he shall be ^alike a shrub in the desert,
And ^bshall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
^cIn a salt land which is not inhabited.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Jeremiah 17:2 >>

THE JEWS' INVETERATE LOVE OF IDOLATRY. (Jer. 17:1-27)

The first of the four clauses relates to the third, the second to the fourth, by alternate parallelism. The sense is: They are as keen after idols as if their propensity was "graven with an iron pen (Job 19:24) on their hearts," or as if it were sanctioned by a law "inscribed with a diamond point" on their altars. The names of their gods used to be written on "the horns of the altars" (Acts 17:23). As the clause "on their hearts" refers to their inward propensity, so "on . . . altars," the outward exhibition of it. Others refer "on the horns of . . . altars" to their staining them with the blood of victims, in imitation of the Levitical precept (Exodus 29:12; Leviticus 4:7, Leviticus 4:18), but "written . . . graven," would thus be inappropriate.

table of . . . heart—which God intended to be inscribed very differently, namely, with His truths (Proverbs 3:3; II Corinthians 3:3).

your—Though "their" preceded, He directly addresses them to charge the guilt home to them in particular.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Jeremiah 17:1:**

Jeremiah 17:2

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Jeremiah 17:2 >>

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