17 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,
    and with the point of a diamond.
It is engraved on the tablet of their heart,
    and on the horns of your altars.
² Even their children remember their altars
    and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.
³ My mountain in the field,
    I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder,
    and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.
⁴ You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you.
    I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know,
    for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
    relies on strength of flesh,
    and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
⁶ For he will be like a bush in the desert,
    and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
    an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,
    and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
⁸ For he will be as a tree planted by the waters,
    who spreads out its roots by the river,
and will not fear when heat comes,
    but its leaf will be green,
and will not be concerned in the year of drought.
    It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
    and it is exceedingly corrupt.
    Who can know it?

¹⁰ “I, Yahweh, search the mind.
    I try the heart,
even to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his doings.”

¹¹ As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid,
    so is he who gets riches, and not by right.
In the middle of his days, they will leave him.
    At his end, he will be a fool.
¹² A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³ Yahweh, the hope of Israel,
    all who forsake you will be disappointed.
Those who depart from me will be written in the earth,
    because they have forsaken Yahweh,
    the spring of living waters.
¹⁴ Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed.
    Save me, and I will be saved;
    for you are my praise.
¹⁵ Behold, they ask me,
    “Where is Yahweh’s word?
    Let it be fulfilled now.”
¹⁶ As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you.
    I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know.
    That which came out of my lips was before your face.
¹⁷ Don’t be a terror to me.
    You are my refuge in the day of evil.
¹⁸ Let them be disappointed who persecute me,
    but let not me be disappointed.
Let them be dismayed,
    but don’t let me be dismayed.
Bring on them the day of evil,
    and destroy them with double destruction.