Midrash sa Jeremias 17:10: Aggadat Bereshit, Midrash Tanchuma, Kohelet Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma Buber

Chapter 2: Prophets. [1] Thus says the Lord God, "On that day, thoughts will arise in your heart, and you will devise an evil plan." (Ezekiel 38:10) The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gog, "Do not say that which you are thinking in your heart, as if I do not know. Jeremiah said, 'The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?' (Jeremiah 17:9) I said to him, 'I created 248 organs in man, and all of them act according to their nature as I created them, except for the heart. The heart changes from moment to moment and twists itself. It is crooked and deceitful above all things.' The heart is crooked and deceitful above all things, and who can know it? I am the Lord who searches the heart (Jeremiah 17:10). I created you, and I know what you are. Do not say that since I created you, I know your heart. Even before I created you, I knew what you would think." This is why David commanded Solomon his son, saying, "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind" (1 Chronicles 28:9). Why? Because the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts (ibid). Rabbi Acha said, "What is the meaning of 'and understands every intent of the thoughts'? Even before a man forms his thoughts in his heart, the Holy One, blessed be He, knows what he is going to think." This is what He said to Sennacherib, "Because you rage against Me, and your arrogance has come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came" (Isaiah 37:29). Even before I created you, I knew what you were going to do, as it is said, "And your going out and your coming in I know" (ibid. 37:28), "When you made yourself stand up from your throne and do repentance, as it says 'The matter reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.' (Jonah 3:6) But because you became angry with me, as it says 'Because you raged against me...' (Isaiah 37:29), Rabbi Hiyya bar Kahana asked, 'What caused you to become angry with me?' God replied, 'Because I gave you peace and quiet. If you had been a launderer with a basket in your hand and a hoe on your shoulder and cleaning a pit, you would not have angered me.' Therefore it is said, 'Because you became angry, for what reason, and your arrogance has reached my ears.' (Isaiah 37:28) And what should I do? I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth (Isaiah 37:29), like how one leads a donkey. I did the same with Gog, as it says 'I am against you, Gog... and I will turn you back and put hooks into your jaws...' (Ezekiel 38:3-4). God said to him, 'Do not say that I do not know what you were destined to do. Look, I said to you many generations before.'" "As it is said, thus says the Lord God: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them? (Ezekiel 38:17) Do not say 'years,' but rather 'generations.' Many generations ago, I spoke to Eldad and Medad, who prophesied about you, as it is written, 'And there remained two men in the camp, the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp' (Numbers 11:26). What does it mean that 'they prophesied, and did not continue'? They prophesied and said that after Gog and Magog there would be no more exile or servitude. Many generations before you, they prophesied about you. And not only that, but Ezekiel also prophesied about what you are planning in your heart, as it is written, 'Thus says the Lord God: It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought' (Ezekiel 38:10). Therefore it is said, 'Scoffers set a snare for thyself' (Proverbs 9:12). I, the Lord, search the heart, I search it's thoughts (Jeremiah 17:10)."

(Numb. 5:12:) “If anyone has his wife go astray (tisteh).” Our masters have taught, “The adulterers do not commit adultery, until a spirit of madness (shetut)³¹In the unpointed Hebrew text, shetut and tisteh appear to have the same root. enters them. Thus it is stated (ibid.), ‘If anyone has his wife go astray.’” [Here] we have learned about the woman. Where is it shown about the man? Where it is stated (in Prov. 6:32), “The one who commits adultery with a woman is has no sense (literally, is lacking heart).”³²Cf. Numb. 9:6. Another interpretation (of Numb. 5:12), “If anyone has his wife go astray.” This text is related (to Jer. 23:24), “If someone hides in secret places, [shall I not see him?]” See, is it not already written (Psalms 16:3), “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, observing the bad and the good.”³³Numb. R. 9:9. And so too is it written (in Zech. 4:10; cf. II Chron. 16:9), “the eyes of the Lord; they roam around all the earth.” [So] what do we learn to say (in Jer. 23:24), “Shall I not see Him (ar'ennu)?” [Interpret these words³⁴In the Hebrew text this question and the one which follows each consists of the one word, ar’ennu. as follows:] Shall I not show him (ar'ennu) to the people and publish his works? (Jer. 23:24, cont.), “’Do I not fill the heavens and the earth,’ says the Lord.” I fill the realms above and the realms below, as stated (Is. 66:1), “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool.” Another interpretation of (Jer. 23:24), “[If someone hides in secret places], shall I not see him? It is comparable to an architect³⁵Gk.: architekton; cf. Lat.: architectus. The parable appears in Numb. R. 9:1; Gen. R. 24:1. [who] went out as a katarikos (tax official) over a certain province. The inhabitants of the province began hiding their silver and gold within the very caves [that he had built]. The architect said to them, ‘I built the province, and I made the hidden treasuries. Will you hide [anything] from me?” Similarly, the Holy One, blessed be He, has said to adulterers, “Will you hide yourselves from me?” [It is as in (Jer. 23:24),] “If someone hides in secret places, I have created you and made your every cavity (mehilim mehilim).” [It is so stated (in Deut. 32:18),] “but you forgot the God who generated you (meholelekha).” Nothing will be useful to you, wherever you hide yourselves, because (according to Jer. 17:10:) “I the Lord search the heart, probe the kidneys, to render to each according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” I am the one who brings (rt.: qrb) you to judgment, as stated (in Mal. 3:5), “Then I will draw near (rt.: qrb) unto you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers […].” Therefore, you shall not go astray after the evil drive, so that none of you have his wife go astray, according to what is stated (in Numb. 5:12), “If anyone has his wife go astray.” Another interpretation (of Numb. 5:12), “If anyone (literally, if a man a man) [has his wife go astray].” [These words are] to teach you that she is going astray and being false with two, with the “Man of war” (as in Exod 15:3) above and with her man (husband) below.³⁶Numb. R. 9:2. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to her, “You lie to your husband, can you perhaps lie to Me? A parable: To what is the matter comparable?³⁷Numb. R. 9:9. To someone who was imprisoned within two houses, one inside the other. Now two guards were there, one on the inside and one on the outside. [The prisoner] opened [the door of] the inner [house] and left, and the guard did not notice him. When he came to leave the outer one, [the guard] did notice him. He seized him and said to him, “At that [guard] on the inside you laughed, but at me you cannot laugh.” Similarly the Holy One, blessed be He, has said to the adulterous woman, “At your husband you laugh, but at me you cannot laugh. Rather I sit and laugh at My creatures.” It is so stated (in Ps. 2:4), “The One sitting in the heavens shall laugh […].

“Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of one who is pregnant; so you will not know the work of God, who does everything” (Ecclesiastes 11:5).
“Just as you do not know” – there are seven matters obscured from people, and they are the day of death, the day of consolation, the profundity of judgment, how one profits, what is in the heart of another, what is in a woman’s pregnancy, and this kingdom of Edom, when it will fall. The day of death, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Man [also] does not know his time” (Ecclesiastes 9:12). The day of consolation, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “I am the Lord; at its time I will hasten it” (Isaiah 60:22). The profundity of judgment, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “For judgment is God’s” (Deuteronomy 1:17). How one profits, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “This is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:18). What is in the heart of another, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “I am the Lord, who probes the heart” (Jeremiah 17:10). What is in a woman’s pregnancy, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Or how the bones grow in the womb of one who is pregnant.” And this kingdom of Edom, when it will fall, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “For it is a day of vengeance in My heart” (Isaiah 63:4).