1. ⌊The Lord says,⌋ “Judah’s sin is written with an iron pen.It is engraved with a diamond pointon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
2. Even their children remember their altarsand their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherahbeside large trees on high hills
3. and on mountains in the open country.I will turn your wealth and all your treasures into loot.I will do this because of your worship sites and your sinthroughout all your territory.
4. You will lose the inheritance that I gave you.I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you haven’t heard of.I will do this because you have stirred up the fire of my anger.It will burn forever.
5. “This is what the Lord says:Cursed is the person who trusts humans,who makes flesh and blood his strengthand whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6. He will be like a bush in the wilderness.He will not see when something good comes.He will live in the dry places in the desert,in a salty land where no one can live.
7. Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord.The Lord will be his confidence.
8. He will be like a tree that is planted by water.It will send its roots down to a stream.It will not be afraid in the heat of summer.Its leaves will turn green.It will not be anxious during droughts.It will not stop producing fruit.
9. “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable.No one can understand how deceitful it is.