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Jeremiah 17:7-8
Rooted Trust
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. 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.
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Why it is worth knowing
- The blessing comes from trusting in God, not in human strength
- The tree image shows that deep roots enable visible fruitfulness
- The tree does not fear drought: it is unaffected by external circumstances
- Bearing fruit in hard seasons is the mark of genuine rootedness in God
Where it sits: Jeremiah 17:5-8
Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. 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.
Hear the passage it sits in, sung word for word, on BibleDo's Jeremiah page.
Background
Jeremiah 17 sets up a stark contrast between the person who trusts in human strength and the one who trusts in God. This mirrors Psalm 1 almost exactly: the contrast of the tree and the shrub parallels the tree and the chaff. The context is Judah’s political crisis, where kings were tempted to trust in Egypt or Assyria rather than God. The imagery of roots by a stream speaks to spiritual formation: the deeper the roots in God’s word and presence, the less vulnerable to seasons of drought.