Christian Standard Bible
Jeremiah 17:9
9The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
- New International Version (NIV)The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- English Standard Version (ESV)The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Context of Jeremiah 17:9
7The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. 8He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit. The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it? 10I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve. 11He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay. In the middle of his life his riches will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.
Read all of Jeremiah 17Jeremiah 17:9 word by word
עָקֹ֥ב הַלֵּ֛ב מִכֹּ֖ל וְאָנֻ֣שׁ ה֑וּא מִ֖י יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 17:9
- Jeremiah 16:12You did more evil than your ancestors. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me.
- Genesis 6:5When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,
- Genesis 8:21When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
- Job 15:14What is a mere human, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- Psalms 51:5Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
- Psalms 53:1The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.
- Proverbs 28:26The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
- Ecclesiastes 9:3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live; after that they go to the dead.
- Matthew 15:19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.
- Mark 7:21For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,
- Hebrews 3:12Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
- James 1:14But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 17:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9The heart is deceitful - הלב עקב akob halleb, "the heart is supplanting - tortuous - full of windings - insidious;" lying ever at the catch; striving to avail itself of every favorable circumstance to gratify its propensities to pride, ambition, evil desire, and corruption of all kinds. And desperately wicked - הוא ואנש veanush hu, and is wretched, or feeble; distressed beyond all things, in consequence of the wickedness that is in it. I am quite of Mr…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5-18Verses 5-18 In the rest of the prophecy Jeremiah dwells upon the moral faults which had led to Judah‘s ruin. Jeremiah 17:6 Like the heath - Or, “like a destitute man” Psalm 102:17. The verbs “he shall see” (or fear) and “shall inhabit” plainly show that a man is here meant and not a plant. Jeremiah 17:8 The river - Or, “water-course” Isaiah 30:25, made for purposes of irrigation. Shall not see - Or, “shall not fear Jeremiah 17:6.” God‘s people feel…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-11Verses 5-11 He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope, shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall be fixed in…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-10By nature, the human heart can be deceitful and very wicked. Only the Lord truly understands its depth.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. deceitful--from a root, "supplanting," "tripping up insidiously by the heel," from which Jacob (Ho 12:3) took his name. In speaking of the Jews' deceit of heart, he appropriately uses a term alluding to their forefather, whose deceit, but not whose faith, they followed. His "supplanting" was in order to obtain Jehovah's blessing. They plant Jehovah for "trust in man" (Jr 17:5), and then think to deceive God, as if it could escape His notice, that it is…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 17:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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