📖 Biblical Definition
The deceitful heart is the native condition of every fallen man since Adam, diagnosed sharply by Jeremiah: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins" (Jeremiah 17:9-10). The heart deceives both its owner and its observers — telling itself flattering stories about its own motives while hiding what really drives it. Only God searches it, and only God can cure it. The remedy is not introspection (which the heart will simply manipulate) but the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and the searching light of Scripture (Hebrews 4:12-13). Christian men trust the Word over their own gut.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
DECEITFUL, a. Tending to mislead; deceptive; full of deceit; treacherous; not trustworthy.
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1. Tending to mislead, deceive, or insnare; deceptive; trickish; fraudulent. 2. Full of deceit; treacherous; trickish. 3. In Scripture, applied to the natural heart of man, which is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, beyond the discovery of any but God.
📖 Key Scripture
Jeremiah 17:9 — "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Jeremiah 17:10 — "I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways…"
Mark 7:21 — "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,"
Hebrews 3:13 — "…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
“Follow your heart” is preached where Jeremiah preached “flee it.”
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The cultural gospel commands what Scripture forbids: trust your feelings, listen to your heart, be true to yourself. The heart becomes oracle, judge, and savior—an internal compass said never to mislead.
Jeremiah disagrees. The same heart you are told to follow is the one that deceives you, especially about itself. The believer's posture is suspicion of the inner voice, submission to the written Word, and prayer for the God who alone searches and cures the deep.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew ʻāqôb — crooked, supplanting, deceitful.
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H6121 — ʻāqôb — crooked, deceitful, supplanting
H605 — ʾānash — incurable, desperately sick
H3820 — lēb — heart, inner man
Usage
"Do not follow your heart; lead it with the Word."
"The same heart that lies to others lies to itself first."
"Only the God who made the heart can be trusted to read it."