Jeremiah 17:9
in Jeremiah 17The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
KJV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
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This verse in Jeremiah 17
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
His "supplanting" was in order to obtain Jehovah's blessing. They plant Jehovah for "trust in man" (Jer 17:5), and then think to deceive God, as if it could escape His notice, that it is in man, not in Him, they trust. desperately wicked--"incurable" [HORSLEY], (Mic 1:9). Trust in one's own heart is as foolish as in our fellow man (Pr 28:26).
This site's exposition
The heart is deceitful above all things
on Jeremiah 17:9-11
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? is answered in the next breath by the Lord who searches the heart and tries the reins, so that self-deception meets an examiner it cannot fool. Calvin reads the pairing as the whole doctrine of sin and grace stated in two verses, human self-knowledge bankrupt and divine knowledge sufficient in its place. Wesley reads the partridge hatching eggs not her own beside the man who gathers riches not by right as one figure, what is gained by fraud does not stay gained, and the fool is left with nothing at his end.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Jeremiah 17:9-10
It is folly to trust in man, for he is not only frail, but false and deceitful. We are apt to think that we trust in God, and are entitled to the blessings here promised to those who do so.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָקֹ֥ב | ako | [is] deceitful | H6121 → | |
| הַלֵּ֛ב | halev | the heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
| מִכֹּ֖ל | mikol | more than everything | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| וְאָנֻ֣שׁ | veanush | and [is] incurable | H605 → | 9 times |
| ה֑וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מִ֖י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ׃ | yedaenu | will he know it | H3045 → | 945 times |
עָקֹ֥ב[is] deceitful
akoH6121 →
הַלֵּ֛בthe heart
halevH3820 →595 times
מִכֹּ֖לmore than everything
mikolH3605 →5413 times
וְאָנֻ֣שׁand [is] incurable
veanushH605 →9 times
ה֑וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
מִ֖יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ׃will he know it
yedaenuH3045 →945 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
it leads to
- Mark 7:21–23
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Mark 7:21–23
Through
Proverbs 28:26He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- Job 28:28
And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
- Proverbs 3:5
Through
Hebrews 3:12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Jeremiah 7:24
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Jeremiah 18:12
But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
- 1 Corinthians 10:12
So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall.
- Jeremiah 17:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.