“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
Parallel translations
- KJV The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
- BSB “The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
- NKJV “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,
- NASB The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts And on the horns of their altars,
- NLT “The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron chisel— engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts and on the corners of their altars.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Judah's sin is engraved with an iron pen and diamond point upon the tablet of their hearts and the horns of their altars. Their guilt is so deeply ingrained it has become a permanent record before God.
Overview
The image of sin etched with iron and diamond conveys how deeply and indelibly rebellion has marked both their hearts and their worship. Their very altars testify against them. This unerasable record of sin reveals the human need for a new heart and for atonement, fulfilled in the new covenant where God writes His law on hearts and Christ removes sin's record (Colossians 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 3:3Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
- 2 Cor 3:3being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
- Prov 7:3Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
- Lev 4:25The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
- Job 19:23–24“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
- Hos 12:11If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.
- Lev 4:17–18and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 17:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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