Bible Strands
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to Judah, in a passage that contrasts the blessed (v. 8) with the cursed. The pronouncement lands as a verdict on those who trust themselves.
The words — עָקֹב (ʿāqōb) carries the sense of "deceitful, treacherous," the same root as Jacob (Yaʿaqōb), evoking twisting and guile. The verse compounds this with אָנֻשׁ (ʾānuš), "incurable," a passive form that marks the condition as beyond remedy.
The thread — Mark 7:21 and Matthew 15:19 both describe evil thoughts and deeds flowing out from the heart. Ecclesiastes 9:3 notes that the hearts of men are full of evil.
Why it lands — It removes self-assessment as a reliable tool and forces the reader to depend on the one who searches the heart (v. 10). The question "Who can understand it?" is not dismissive; it is an invitation to stop pretending.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Cross-references
- Mark 7:21 For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
- Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.
- Proverbs 28:26 He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
- Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
- Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
- James 1:14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Genesis 8:21 When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
- Matthew 13:15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’
- Psalms 53:1 For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.