Jeremiah 17:9
(KJV)
The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
(1611
KJV)
The heart is deceitfull aboue all
things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?
(1587
Geneva Bible)
The heart is deceitfull and wicked
aboue all things, who can knowe it?
Counterfeit Versions
(ASV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can
know it?
(AMP)
“The heart is deceitful above all things And it is extremely sick; Who can
understand it fully and know
its secret motives?
(CEB)
The most cunning heart— it’s beyond help. Who can figure it out?
(CEV)
You people of Judah are so deceitful that you even fool yourselves, and you
can’t change.
(CSB) The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it?
(Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition) The heart is perverse above all things, and
unsearchable, who can know it?
(ERV)
“Nothing can hide its evil as well as the human mind. It can be very sick, and
no one really understands it.
(ESV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can
understand it?
(GNB)
“Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is
too sick to be healed.
(HCSB) The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can
understand it?
(ISV)
“The heart is more deceitful than anything. It is incurable— who can know it?
(LEB)
The heart is deceitful
more than anything else, and it is disastrous.
Who can understand it?
(THE
MESSAGE) “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can
figure out. But I, God,
search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to
the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”
(NABRE) More tortuous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can
understand it?
(NASV) “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who
can understand it?
(NCV)
“More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil and cannot be healed. Who can
understand it?
(NET)
The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who
can understand it?
(NIRV) A human heart is more dishonest than anything else. It can’t be healed.
Who can understand it?
(NIV)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
(NRSV) The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand
it?
(RSV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can
understand it?
(TLV)
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable—who can know it?
(VOICE) The heart is most devious and incurably sick.
Who can understand it?
(NWT-
Jehovah’s Witnesses)
The heart is more treacherous than
anything else and is desperate.
Who can know it?
Affected Teaching
Here is another case of using the wrong English word which lowers the reality
and severity of the verse. The
Hebrew word in question is “anash” which carries with it the meaning of “sick,
incurable, wicked, or feeble.”
Jeremiah 17:9 is the only place that this word is translated “wicked.”
It is used 9 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and the other 8 times it is
translated “sick or incurable.” The
following two verses give alternate uses of “anash.”
2
Samuel 12:15 (KJV) And Nathan
departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare
unto David, and it was very sick.
2
Samuel 12:15 is a proper use of the word “anash’ because it is speaking of the
baby as one who is physically sick, so the word is translated properly and
according to context.
Jeremiah 30:15 (KJV) Why
criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow
is incurable for the
multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these
things unto thee.
Jeremiah 30:15 is a proper use of the word “anash” because it too speaks of the
sorrow being incurable, so the word is translated properly and according to
context.