Jeremiah 17:5 (DRB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 17:3 Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.

Jeremiah 17:4 And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it 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 tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thus", "saith", "lord", "cursed", "trusteth", "maketh", "flesh", and "whose". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thus" and "saith", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And thou shalt be left stripped of..." into verse 6's "For he shall be like tamaric in...", so "thus" and "saith" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thus" and "saith" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.