Jeremiah 17 · Verse 5

Jeremiah 17:5

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:5, King James Version

Jeremiah 17:5 in other translations

BSB	This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
WEB	The LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from the LORD.
ASV	Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.
YLT	Thus said Jehovah: Cursed is the man who doth trust in man, And hath made flesh his arm, And from Jehovah whose heart turneth.
DARBY	Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that confideth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.
BBE	This is what the Lord has said: Cursed is the man who puts his faith in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart is turned away from the Lord.
Webster	Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

What does Jeremiah 17:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

5. Referring to the Jews' proneness to rely on Egypt, in its fear of Assyria and Babylon (Is 31:1, 3). trusteth--This word is emphatic. We may expect help from men, so far as God enables them to help us, but we must rest our trust in God alone (Psa 62:5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 5 Cursed be the man that trusteth in man - This reprehends their vain confidence in trusting in Egypt, which was too feeble itself to help, and, had it been otherwise, too ill disposed towards them to help them heartily. An arm of flesh is put here for a weak and ineffectual support. And he who, in reference to the salvation of his soul, trusts in an arm of flesh - in himself or others, or in any thing he has done or suffered, will inherit a curse instead of a blessing.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 17:5-11

He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope, shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall be fixed in peace and satisfaction of mind; they shall not be anxious in a year of drought. Those who make God their Hope, have enough in him to make up the want of all creature-comforts. They shall not cease from yielding fruit in holiness and good works. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good, and good evil; and cries peace to those to whom it does not belong. Herein the heart is desperately wicked; it is deadly, it is desperate. The case is bad indeed, if the conscience, which should set right the errors of other faculties, is a leader in the delusion. We cannot know our own hearts, nor what they will do in an hour of temptation. Who can understand his errors? Much less can we know the hearts of others, or depend upon them. He that believes God's testimony in this matter, and learns to watch his own heart, will find this is a correct, though a sad picture, and learns many lessons to direct his conduct. But much in our own hearts and in the hearts of others, will remain unknown. Yet whatever wickedness there is in the heart, God sees it. Men may be imposed upon, but God cannot be deceived. He that gets riches, and not by right, though he may make them his hope, never shall have joy of them. This shows what vexation it is to a worldly man at death, that he must leave his riches behind; but though the wealth will not follow to another world, guilt will, and everlasting torment. The rich man takes pains to get an estate, and sits brooding upon it, but never has any satisfaction in it; by sinful courses it comes to nothing. Let us be wise in time; what we get, let us get it honestly; and what we have, use it charitably, that we may be wise for eternity.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Jeremiah 17:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כֹּ֣ה\׀kohthusH3541

אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe saysH559

יְהוָ֗הYah.wehYahwehH3068

אָר֤וּר'a.Rur[is] cursedH779

הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ha.Ge.verthe manH1397

אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherwhoH834

יִבְטַ֣חyiv.Tachhe trustsH982

בָּֽאָדָ֔םba.'a.Damin <the> humankindH120

וְשָׂ֥םve.Samand he makesH7760

בָּשָׂ֖רba.SarfleshH1320

זְרֹע֑וֹze.ro.'Ostrength hisH2220

וּמִן\־u.min-and fromH4480

יְהוָ֖הYah.wehYahwehH3068

יָס֥וּרya.Surit turns asideH5493

לִבּֽוֹ\׃li.Boheart hisH3820

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 17:5

Psalms 118:8-9
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Psalms 146:3-4
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Isaiah 2:22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
2 Chronicles 32:8
With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Isaiah 31:1-9
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord! Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. …
Isaiah 30:1-7
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. …
Isaiah 36:6
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
Psalms 62:9
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
Psalms 18:21
For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Ezekiel 29:6-7
And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
Ezekiel 6:9
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
Hosea 1:2
The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Cursed.
Ps 62:9; 118:8,9; 146:3,4; Isa 2:22; 30:1-7; 31:1-9; 36:6
Eze 29:6,7
flesh.
2Ch 32:8; Isa 31:3
whose.
Ps 18:21; Isa 59:15; Eze 6:9; Ho 1:2, Heb 3:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Jeremiah 17:4
And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
Jeremiah 17:5
Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:6
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Read all of Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17:5 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Así ha dicho Jehová: Maldito el varón que confía en el hombre, y pone carne por su brazo, y su corazón se aparta de Jehová.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Ainsi dit l’ Éternel: Maudit l’homme qui se confie en l’homme, et qui fait de la chair son bras, et dont le cœur se retire de l’ Éternel!
German Elberfelder 1871	So spricht Jehova: Verflucht ist der Mann, der auf den Menschen vertraut und Fleisch zu seinem Arme macht, und dessen Herz von Jehova weicht!
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Hæc dicit Dominus: Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium suum, et a Domino recedit cor ejus.