Jeremiah 17 contrasts trusting man with trusting God. It starts saying that Judah's sin is engraved in their hearts with a flint stone as too it is on their pagan altars. As a result they will be enslaved to their enemies and exiled, because they have kindled God's anger. "Cursed is the one who trusts in man... and turns away from the Lord... he will be like a bush in the wasteland... but blessed is the man who trusts the Lord... because he will be like a tree planted by a stream". The text then goes on with the famous verse: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?... God searches the heart and examines the mind... and rewards according to what his deeds deserve... all who turned away from the Lord will be put to shame because they have forsaken the spring of living water". Then Jeremiah cries to God: "Heal me O Lord... save me (he was under a lot of pressure because of his unpopular prophecies)... the people keep ridiculing his prophecies that never come to pass... you Lord are my refuge in the day of disaster". The chapter closes calling the people to keep the sabbath and not to treat it as any other day. If they do this Jerusalem will last forever... "but if they don't keep the sabbath God will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem".
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