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Text -- Jeremiah 17:1-23 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
17:1 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel on their stone-hard hearts . It is inscribed with a diamond point on the horns of their altars .
17:2 Their children are always thinking about their altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah , set up beside the green trees on the high hills
17:3 and on the mountains and in the fields . I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder . I will give it away as the price for the sins you have committed throughout your land .
17:4 You will lose your hold on the land which I gave to you as a permanent possession. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about. For you have made my anger burn like a fire that will never be put out .”
Individuals Are Challenged to Put Their Trust in the Lord
17:5 The Lord says , “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings , who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength , and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord .
17:6 They will be like a shrub in the desert . They will not experience good things even when they happen . It will be as though they were growing in the desert , in a salt land where no one can live .
17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me , who put their confidence in me .
17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water . It has nothing to fear when the heat comes . Its leaves are always green . It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought . It does not stop bearing fruit .
17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else . It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?
17:10 I , the Lord , probe into people’s minds . I examine people’s hearts . I deal with each person according to how he has behaved . I give them what they deserve based on what they have done .
17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool .”
Jeremiah Appeals to the Lord for Vindication
17:12 Then I said, “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high . You are the place where we can find refuge .
17:13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope . All who leave you will suffer shame . Those who turn away from you will be consigned to the nether world . For they have rejected you, the Lord , the fountain of life .
17:14 Lord , grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief . Rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued .
17:15 Listen to what they are saying to me. They are saying, “Where are the things the Lord threatens us with? Come on! Let’s see them happen!”
17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster . I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation . You know that. You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken .
17:17 Do not cause me dismay ! You are my source of safety in times of trouble .
17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced . Do not let me be disgraced . May they be dismayed . Do not let me be dismayed . Bring days of disaster on them. Bring on them the destruction they deserve.”
Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future
17:19 The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem .
17:20 As you stand in those places announce , ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates . Listen, all you kings of Judah , all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem . Listen to what the Lord says.
17:21 The Lord says , ‘Be very careful if you value your lives ! Do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day .
17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day . But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, as I commanded your ancestors .
17:23 Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline .’
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Jer 17:1; Jer 17:1; Jer 17:1; Jer 17:1; Jer 17:1; Jer 17:2; Jer 17:2; Jer 17:2; Jer 17:2; Jer 17:3; Jer 17:3; Jer 17:4; Jer 17:4; Jer 17:4; Jer 17:5; Jer 17:5; Jer 17:5; Jer 17:6; Jer 17:7; Jer 17:9; Jer 17:9; Jer 17:10; Jer 17:10; Jer 17:11; Jer 17:11; Jer 17:11; Jer 17:12; Jer 17:12; Jer 17:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 17:14; Jer 17:15; Jer 17:15; Jer 17:16; Jer 17:16; Jer 17:16; Jer 17:17; Jer 17:18; Jer 17:18; Jer 17:19; Jer 17:19; Jer 17:19; Jer 17:20; Jer 17:20; Jer 17:21; Jer 17:21; Jer 17:21; Jer 17:22; Jer 17:22; Jer 17:22; Jer 17:23; Jer 17:23
NET Notes: Jer 17:1 There is biting sarcasm involved in the use of the figures here. The law was inscribed on the tablets of stone by the “finger” of God (Exo...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:2 Sacred poles dedicated to…Asherah. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was co...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:3 Or “I will give away your wealth, all your treasures, and your places of worship…” The translation follows the emendation suggested ...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:5 In the psychology of ancient Hebrew thought the heart was the center not only of the emotions but of the thoughts and motivations. It was also the sea...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:6 This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scal...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:7 Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord ...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:10 For an earlier reference to this motif see Jer 11:20. For a later reference see Jer 20:12. See also Ps 17:2-3.
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NET Notes: Jer 17:12 The Lord is no longer threatening judgment but is being addressed. For a similar doxological interruption compare Jer 16:19-20.
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NET Notes: Jer 17:13 Heb “The fountain of living water.” For an earlier use of this metaphor and the explanation of it see Jer 2:13 and the notes there. There ...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:14 The translation fills in the details of the metaphor from a preceding context (15:18) and from the following context (17:18). The literal translation ...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:17 Heb “do not be a source of dismay for me.” For this nuance of מְחִתָּה (mÿkhittah) ra...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:18 Jeremiah now does what he says he has not wanted to do or been hasty to do. He is, however, seeking his own vindication and that of God whose threats ...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:19 For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
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NET Notes: Jer 17:20 Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah…Jerusalem who enter through these gates.” This sentence has been restructured to...
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NET Notes: Jer 17:21 Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example ...
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