- 1The 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;
- 2Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
- 3O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.
- 4And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
- 5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
- 6For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
- 7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
- 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
- 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
- 10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
- 11As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
- 12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
- 13O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
- 14Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
- 15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
- 16As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
- 17Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
- 18Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
- 19 Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
- 20And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
- 21Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
- 22Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
- 23But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
- 24And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
- 25Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.
- 26And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.
- 27But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
KING JAMES VERSION
JEREMIAH 17
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Jeremiah 17 — The Solitary Prophet and the Restless Sea.
About this illustration
The composition centers the solitary prophet and the restless sea as the chapter’s defining visual, using a unified, historically grounded scene while avoiding written text and any bodily depiction of God.
Scripture basis: Jeremiah 17:1–27King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Sermons
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Pastor Dean Odle warns that believers can become spiritually blind through pride, passivity, and failure to practice or rightly interpret Scripture. Moving from James 1 and Jesus' confrontations with the Pharisees to Paul's pastoral commands and Christ's rebuke of Laodicea, he urges humility, careful study, prayer, and honest self-examination. Odle applies the warning to disputes over salvation, spiritual gifts, women in ministry, and biblical creation, attributing deception to isolated proof texts and resistance to correction. He closes from 2 Corinthians 5 with the judgment seat of Christ, a call to be reconciled to God, and a prayer for the Holy Spirit to open believers' eyes.
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View sermon The Heart of Mankind - Part 6: Pride
Pastor Dean Odle presents pride as a foundational corruption of the human heart: self-exaltation that resists truth, correction, dependence, and humble obedience to God. Jeremiah 17 again supplies the series’ controlling diagnosis, while Proverbs, Obadiah, Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28 trace pride’s deception and its association with Satan’s fall. Spiritual gifts, knowledge, success, and ministry activity can themselves become occasions for boasting if love and humility are absent.
Doctrine and DiscernmentChristian LivingSpiritual Warfare
View sermon The Heart of Mankind - Part 3: The Hardened Heart
Pastor Dean Odle warns that Christians can gradually harden their hearts through hidden sin, unbelief, rationalization, and refusal to hear God’s voice. Beginning with Jeremiah 17 and Ezekiel 8, he emphasizes that God sees what is concealed within the heart. Hebrews 3 then supplies the central warning: people addressed as holy brethren must take heed lest sin’s deceitfulness harden them and lead them away from the living God.
Doctrine and DiscernmentChristian LivingSpiritual Warfare
View sermon Showing 1–3 of 6 sermons