The Deceitful Heart

The heart is more deceitful than anything else,(A)
and incurable—who can understand it?(B)

10 I, the Lord, examine the mind,
I test the heart[a](C)
to give to each according to his way,
according to what his actions deserve.(D)
11 He who makes a fortune unjustly
is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.
In the middle of his life
his riches will abandon him,
so in the end he will be a fool.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 17:10 Lit kidneys

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.”

Jeremiah’s Trust in the Lord

11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid,
    so are those who get their wealth by unjust means.
At midlife they will lose their riches;
    in the end, they will become poor old fools.

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