Curse and Blessing

This is what the Lord says:

Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind.(A)
He makes human flesh his strength,(B)
and his heart turns from the Lord.
He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;(C)
he cannot see when good comes
but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land where no one lives.(D)
The person who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.(E)

He will be like a tree planted by water:(F)
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.

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Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man (A)who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,[a]
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
(B)He is like a shrub in the desert,
    (C)and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in (D)an uninhabited salt land.

(E)“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    (F)whose trust is the Lord.
(G)He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 17:5 Hebrew arm