Note: I am doing this series of ‘Horrible Translations’ in the hope that they will inspire you to be a diligent student of the Bible; to do your own research and discover the joy of gaining new insights as the Holy Spirit guides you into all truth.
Here is one of the most confusing, destructive and pervasive ‘horrible translations’ from Hebrew into English.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
(Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)
Destructive.
Destructive because it conveys a sinister message “don’t trust your heart”! This misunderstanding of the passage is completely contrary to the central theme of the Bible, to “love with all our heart”.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
(Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV)
Justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
(Psalms 94:15 ESV)
There is something deeper to investigate.
Pervasive.
In my small collection of Bibles, only the New English Translation makes an attempt to correct the misunderstanding, but gets it horribly wrong.
The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?
(Jeremiah 17:9 NET)
While the mind is certainly part of the ‘deceitful process’ using ‘human mind’ misses the point Jeremiah is making. As you will see below, it is an ‘untrained human mind’, that plays a role in condemning a person to the curse of a ‘dry and desolate, wilderness life’.
Confusing.
If we do a little digging into the Hebrew we find two Hebrew words being translated as heart. Let’s see how these two words are defined and used in the Hebrew Bible.
Starting with Strong’s Dictionary.
Heart (H3820) which is the word Jeremiah uses.
lêb (לֵב)
labe
A form of H3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: - + care for, comfortably, consent, X considered, courag [-eous], friend [-ly], ([broken-], [hard-], [merry-], [stiff-], [stout-], double) heart ([-ed]), X heed, X I, kindly, midst, mind (-ed), X regard ([-ed)], X themselves, X unawares, understanding, X well, willingly, wisdom.
Total KJV occurrences: 598
Heart (H3824)
lêbâb (לֵבָב)
lay-bawb'
From H3823; the heart (as the most interior organ); used also like H3820: - + bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage, ([faint], [tender-] heart([-ed]), midst, mind, X unawares, understanding.
Total KJV occurrences: 251
The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible (AHLB) makes the following observation;
In the ancient Hebrew text the word “heart” is a combination of two pictographs; a shepherd’s staff and a tent.
The picture of the shepherd’s staff “representing authority” and the picture of the tent “representing what is inside”; when combined, mean “authority inside” and then states that;
“The consciousness of man is seen as coming from deep inside the chest, the heart”.
Although the two Hebrew words are seemingly used interchangeably, some distinction is being made between the physical organ and the emotions which are felt deep within the chest.
As you will see, context becomes very important.
What does Jeremiah actually mean?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
(Jeremiah 17:9 ESV)
Can we determine the meaning by considering the context of the phrase?
Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart (H3820) turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
The heart (H3820) is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
“I the LORD search the heart (H3820) and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
(Jeremiah 17:5-10 ESV)
Here we find Jeremiah making a clear distinction between the person who “trusts in man and makes flesh his strength” and the person who “trusts in the Lord”; one is cursed to a life of misery while the other is blessed with a fulfilling and abundant life.
Negativity Bias and the Positivity Offset.
As we will see in the next section, the curse and blessing are our own making.
Human beings are hard-wired for negativity, called a Negativity Bias. In fact, research has found that negative emotions are about 3.5 times more intense than positive emotions.
Now, while we don’t really need research to tell us that negativity is more intense than positivity, that 3.5 ratio can be a very useful tool to break the grip of negativity bias over our lives.
Underlying this natural, negativity bias, is fear.
The news and advertising industries understand the intensity of our negativity bias and use it to manipulate people’s emotions with fear-inducing headlines and advertisements; bad news and FOMO being two examples.
But we have choice! We can make a conscious decision to break free of the power of this negativity bias, by using Positivity Offset.
And, that is where the 3.5 ratio comes in handy. The ratio tells us that we need at least 3.5 times more positive experiences in order to offset the effects of our negativity bias.
People who live below the 3.5 ratio tend to feel as if they are floundering; victims of life’s many challenges. But people who make a conscious effort to live above the 3.5 ratio are more likely to feel as if they are flourishing; optimistic that they can overcome life’s many challenges.
I think Jeremiah is saying something like;
Untrained emotions are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand them?
Who can understand them indeed! In a world that is seemingly out of control, there is much that seems completely irrational.
Training our emotions.
In Numbers we find God instructing the Israelites to make tassels on their garments to serve as a constant reminder to avoid being deceived by their emotions such as lust and greed.
The LORD said to Moses,
“Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart (H3824) and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.”
(Numbers 15:37-40 ESV)
Once again, by studying the context we can see that God is referring to our emotions, our negativity bias, and not the organ even though the author has used H3824.
Study the context and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.
Virtuous Cycles and Vicious Spirals.
We have a choice, we can either choose to consciously harness our emotions and soar upward into the blessings of a “Virtuous Cycle”, like an eagle soaring on thermals of God's truth, or we can remain trapped in the curse of an endless 'Vicious Spiral', the unconscious victims of our untrained, negativity bias.
The choice is ours to make.
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 ESV)
A well-trained heart is a beautiful thing.
How well are you doing on a day to day basis?
If you would like more positivity in your life, have a look at this excellent tool to check your ratio;
- Single test: https://www.positivityratio.com/single.php (the book website)
- Or register a free account at https://www.positivityresonance.com/survey.php and track your progress over time.
Now do your own, prayerful research.
If you have a laptop or smartphone, you have free access to all the tools you need;
1. To compare different English translations.
2. To examine the passage in the original language in which was written.
3. To examine the words themselves to gain a deeper understanding.
Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth, you may be inspired but what He opens up for you.
If you found this short Bible study inspiring, please check out the “30-day Introduction to the Joy of Bible Study” where we explore a variety of Bible Study tools and how to use them.
There has never been a better time to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
