Queerying 6th after Epiphany year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the Becoming One:

Cursed is the one that trusts in a human,

and makes flesh their arm,

and whose heart departs from the Becoming One.

For they shall be like a tamarisk in the desert,

and shall not see when good comes;

but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,

a salt land and not inhabited.

Blessed is the one that trusts in the Becoming One,

and whose trust the Becoming One is.

For they shall be as a tree planted by the waters,

that spreads out its roots by the river,

that shall not see when heat comes,

and its foliage will be luxurious;

it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,

Neither will it cease from yielding fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and it is exceedingly weak—who can know it?

I the Becoming One search the heart,

I try the reins,

even to give every one according to their ways,

according to the fruit of their doings.

Queeries for the text:
What does it mean to be cursed? What curses follow us today?
Is the text pointing back to Judges? Does Hosea point back here? What do our hearts lust after today?
What is a tamarisk? Does it show up elsewhere in the Tanakh?
Is good a person? How does good come?
What is a blessing? Who is blessed? How many are there?
What is luxurious foilage? How could we reinterpret this metaphor for today?
How is the heart weak and deceitful?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 6:17-26
¹⁷Jesus came down with the twelve

and stood on a level place,

with a great crowd of his disciples

and a great multitude of people

from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

¹⁸They had come to hear Jesus

and to be healed of their diseases;

and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch Jesus,

for power came out from him and healed all of them.

²⁰Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the dominion of God.

²¹“Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

²²“Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you

on account of the Human One.

²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

for surely your reward is great in heaven;

for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

²⁵“Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶“Woe to you when all speak well of you,

for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

Queeries for the text:
Where did Jesus come down from?
How does power come out from a person to heal?
Who are poor?  Hungry?
Who weeps?
Who is hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed?
What do our ancestors do to the prophets?
Who are rich?  Full?  Laughing?
How do we speak well?

What are your queeries?