Jeremiah 17:1

The indictment against Judah for her deeply ingrained sins was written permanently on the people’s hearts (cf. Job 19:24). It stood etched there and, also figuratively, on their most prominent places of worship, the pagan altars throughout the land. Sins engraved on the heart pictures the chief characteristic that marked the inner life of the people, which was indelible sin. When Yahweh had given Israel the covenant at Mount Sinai, He inscribed it on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18). But now, what was authoritative for the people was sin, that they had inscribed on tablets of flesh.

Rather than blood, on the horns of the brazen altar in the temple courtyard, testifying to the people’s commitment to Him, the Lord saw their sins staining the horns of their pagan altars (cf. Jeremiah 7:21-26; Amos 4:4-5). The brazen altar was a place of sacrifice where their sins could be removed, but the horns of their altars had become places of sacrilege where their sins stood recorded.

". . . the people’s heart has guilt not only written all over it but etched into it, engraved . . . beyond erasure." [Note: Kidner, p. 71.]

In the future, God promised to write His law on His people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34), but until then their sins were what marked their hearts. Then He would remember their sins no more, but now they remained recorded and unforgiven.