Jer 17:1
17:1 The sin of Judah [is] {a} written with a pen of iron, [and]
     with the point of a diamond: [it is] graven upon the {b}
     tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your {c}
     altars;

     (a) The remembrance of their contempt of God cannot pass,
         although for a time he defers the punishment, for it
         will be revealed to men and angels.
     (b) Instead of the law of God, they have written idolatry
         and all abomination in their heart.
     (c) Your sins appear in all the altars that you have
         erected to idols.

Jer 17:2
17:2 {d} While their children remember their altars and their
     idols by the green trees upon the high hills.

     (d) Some read, "So that their children remember their
         altars", that is, follow their father's wickedness.

Jer 17:3
17:3 {e} O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance
     [and] all thy treasures to the spoil, [and] thy high places
     for sin, throughout all thy borders.

     (e) Zion that was my mountain, will now be left as a waste
         field.

Jer 17:4
17:4 And thou, even {f} thyself, shall discontinue from thy
     heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve
     thy enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have
     kindled a fire in my anger, [which] shall burn for ever.

     (f) Because you would not give the land rest, at such
         times, days and years as I appointed, you will after
         this be carried away and it will rest for lack of
         labourers.

Jer 17:5
17:5 Thus saith the LORD; {g} Cursed [be] the man that trusteth
     in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
     from the LORD.

     (g) The Jews were given to worldly policies and thought to
         make themselves strong by the friendship of the
         Egyptians, Isa 31:3 and strangers and in the mean
         time did not depend on God, and therefore he denounces
         God's plagues against them, showing that they prefer
         corruptible man to God, who is immortal,
         Isa 2:22, Jer 48:6,7.

Jer 17:8
17:8 {h} For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and
     [that] spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not
     see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and
     shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall
     cease from yielding fruit.

     (h) Read Ps 1:3.

Jer 17:9
17:9 {i} The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and
     desperately wicked: who can know it?

     (i) Because the wicked always have some excuse to defend
         their doings he shows that their own lewd imaginations
         deceive them and bring them to these hardships: but God
         will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts,
         1Sa 16:7,1Ch 28:9,Ps 7:10,Jer 11:20,10:12,Re 2:13.

Jer 17:11
17:11 {k} [As] the partridge sitteth [on eggs], and hatcheth
      [them] not; [so] he that getteth riches, and not by right,
      shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end
      shall be a fool.

      (k) As the patriarch by calling gathered others who
          forsake her when they see she is not their mother: so
          the covetous man is forsaken of his riches because he
          comes by them falsely.

Jer 17:12
17:12 A glorious {l} high throne from the beginning [is] the
      place of our sanctuary.

      (l) Showing that the godly ought to glory in nothing, but
          in God who exalts his, and has left a sign of his
          favour in his temple.

Jer 17:13
17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be
      ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written
      {m} in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the
      fountain of living waters.

      (m) Their names will not be registered in the book of
          life.

Jer 17:14
17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; {n} save me, and I
      shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.

      (n) He desires God to preserve him that he fall not into
          temptation, considering the great contempt of God's
          word, and the multitude that fall from God.

Jer 17:15
17:15 Behold, {o} they say to me, Where [is] the word of the
      LORD? let it come now.

      (o) The wicked say that my prophecy will not come to pass,
          because you deferred the time of your vengeance.

Jer 17:16
17:16 As for me, {p} I have not hastened from [being] a shepherd
      to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day;
      thou knowest: that which was uttered by my lips was
      [right] before thee.

      (p) I am assured of my calling, and therefore know that
          the thing which you speak by me will come to pass, and
          that I speak not of any worldly affection.

Jer 17:17
17:17 Be not {q} a terror to me: thou [art] my hope in the day
      of evil.

      (q) However the wicked deal rigorously with me, yet let me
          find comfort in you.

Jer 17:18
17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me
      be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be
      dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, {r} and destroy
      them with double destruction.

      (r) Read Jer 11:20.

Jer 17:19
17:19 Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the {s} gate of
      the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah
      come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of
      Jerusalem;

      (s) While your doctrine may best be understood both by
          high and low.

Jer 17:21
17:21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no
      burden on the {t} sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by the
      gates of Jerusalem;

      (t) By naming the Sabbath day, he comprehends the thing
          that is signified by it, for if they transgressed in
          the ceremony, they must be guilty of the rest, read
          Ex 20:8 and by the breaking of this one
          commandment, he makes them transgressors of the whole
          law, as the first and second table are contained in
          it.