Jeremiah 17:1

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; The Septuagint omit the first four verses, but other Greek versions have them. 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 () on their hearts;" or as if it were sactioned 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" (). As the clause "on their hearts" refers to their inward propensity, so "upon ... altars," the outward exhibition of it. Others refer "on the horns of ... altars" to their staining the...

The Prophet teaches us here in other words what we have often already seen, — that the Jews in vain sought refuges, for their sin had so much accumulated that it was very apparent. It indeed often happens, that men fall; but God, who is ever inclined to mercy, forgives them; and they are also often led astray through levity, and thus their sins are not engraven on their hearts. But Jeremiah says, that nothing remained for that nation but to be entirely swept away, because their iniquity was past recovery. Had they been lightly besprinkled with vices, there might have been still a remedy for them; but when their iniquities were engraven on their hearts, on their marrow and bones, what more remained for them? He had said before, “Can the Ethiop change his skin?” (Jeremiah 13:23) though the Ethiop may change his skin, and also the panther, yet thou art still like thyself. They had so compl...

1-4 The sins which men commit make little impression on their minds, yet every sin is marked in the book of God; they are all so graven upon the table of the heart, that they will all be remembered by the conscience. That which is graven in the heart will become plain in the life; men's actions show the desires and purposes of their hearts. What need we have to humble ourselves before God, who are so vile in his sight! How should we depend on his mercy and grace, begging of God to search and prove us; not to suffer us to be deceived by our own hearts, but to create in us a clean and holy nature by his Spirit!...

CHAPTER XVII _This chapter begins with setting forth the very strong bias_ _which the people of Judah had to idolatry, with the fatal_ _consequences_, 1-4. _The happiness of the man that trusted in Jehovah is then_ _beautifully contrasted with the opposite character_, 5-8. _God alone knows the deceitfulness and wretchedness of the heart_ _of man_, 9, 10. _The comparison of a bird's hatching the eggs of another of a_ _different species, which will soon forsake her, is highly_ expressive of the vanity of ill-acquired riches, which oft

This section Jeremiah 17:1 is inseparably connected with the preceding. Judah’s sin had been described Jeremiah 16:19 as one of which the very Gentiles will become ashamed. and for which she will shortly be punished by, an intervention of God’s hand more marked than anything in her previous history. Jeremiah now dwells upon the indelible nature of her sin. A PEN OF IRON - i. e., an iron chisel for cutting inscriptions upon tables of stone. THE POINT OF A DIAMOND - The ancients were well acquainted with the cutting powers of the diamond. ALTARS - Not Yahweh’s one altar, but the many altars which the Jews had set up to Baalim...

EXPOSITION Jeremiah 17:1 are closely connected with the preceding chapter. We have just been pointed to the striking contrast between the conduct of the heathen and that of the backsliding men of Judah. The inspired orator's indignation swells as he thinks of the inveterateness and indelibleness of Judah's sin. Then he passes to a subject immediately suggested by the policy of the court, viz. the true source of safety in dangerous times. Trust in man brings a curse; trust in Jehovah a blessing (Jeremiah 17:5). From this portion of the prophecy we can venture to fix the date of the whole. Jeremiah 17:11 is, in fact, a shorter form of the denunciation in...

THE SIN OF JUDAH IS WRITTEN WITH A PEN OF IRON,.... Or an iron tool, such as engravers use in working on hard matter: [AND] WITH THE POINT OF A DIAMOND; such as glaziers use in cutting their glass; though this is not the word used for a diamond in Exodus 28:18, this word is elsewhere translated an adamant, Ezekiel 3:9. Bothart h takes it to be the smiris, which jewellers use in polishing their gems. Jarchi makes mention of a Midrash, or exposition, which explains the iron pen of Jeremiah, and the point of the adamant, or diamond, of Ezekiel, because of what is said of them, Jeremiah 1:18. Kimchi thinks the word "shamir", rendered "diamond", is expressive of the subject matter on which their sin

Jeremiah 17:1. _The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond:_ It is so ingrained in their very nature that you might as well try to erase an inscription that is written upon steel with the point of a diamond as hope to get this perversity out of the nation; it is graven upon the tablets of their heart. What is mere habit can be altered, but what is ingrained in the heart cannot be taken away except by a, miracle of grace. It was the heart that was wrong; the fountain-head was polluted, so what could the streams be but foul. Jeremiah 17:1. _It is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;_ Their holiest things were defiled. They wrote up the names of their idol gods even upon God's altar, and so the

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Judah's sin (Jeremiah 17:1) _ 2. The curse and the blessing (Jeremiah 17:5) 3. The worship of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:12) 4. Concerning the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:19) Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah was idolatry, engraven with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, upon their heart (from whence it proceeded) and upon the horns of their altars. They had destroyed but a few years before the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post), and now their children turned back to t

JEREMIAH 16:1 TO JEREMIAH 17:18. THE COMING DISTRESS A PENALTY FOR SIN. The prophet is forbidden to found a family, because of the coming sorrows (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 7:29 ff.), in which death will be too common even for due mourning and burial. He is to stand aloof from the ordinary expressions of grief (Jeremiah 16:5) or social joy (Jeremiah 16:8 f.; _cf._ Jeremiah 7:34), as a sign that Yahweh will make both to cease in the universal dis