Jeremiah 17:9 (WEB)

Passage

The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh.

Jeremiah 17:8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

Jeremiah 17:11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "all things", "heart", "deceitful", "above", "exceedingly", and "corrupt". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "all things" and "heart", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "For he will be as a tree..." into verse 10's "I Yahweh search the mind I try...", so "all things" and "heart" 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 "all things" and "heart" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.