The Hebrew adjective charer (חָרֵר) means parched, scorched, or burnt — describing desolate, dried-up places. It comes from the root charar (to burn), describing the condition of the man who trusts in human strength rather than God: he is like a shrub in the desert, dwelling in a parched, uninhabited wasteland (Jeremiah 17:6).
Jeremiah 17:5–8 presents one of Scripture's most vivid contrasts. The one who trusts in man is charer — scorched, dried, rootless in desert waste. The one who trusts in the LORD is like a tree planted by water, whose roots reach the stream, who does not fear drought. This contrast is echoed in Psalm 1's imagery of the righteous as a tree by streams of water and the wicked as chaff blown away. Charer becomes a symbol of spiritual desolation — the condition of the soul that has cut itself off from the living God. New Testament: Jesus is the Living Water (John 4:10–14) who prevents the soul from becoming charer.