For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up;
Parallel translations
- KJV Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
- BSB Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
- NKJV “Because My people have forgotten Me, They have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, From the ancient paths, To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
- NASB ‘For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods. And they have stumbled in their ways, In the ancient roads, To walk on paths, Not on a highway,
- NLT But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God's people have forgotten him, worshiped idols, and strayed from the ancient paths onto rough byways. Their idolatry has led them astray.
Overview
The heart of Judah's sin is laid bare: forgetting the Lord and burning incense to false gods. Having left the well-built ancient paths of covenant faithfulness, they stumble on uneven detours. The image of forsaking the good old way for worthless idols warns every generation against trading the living God for empty substitutes (Jeremiah 6:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Jer 6:16Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
- Jer 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
- Isa 57:14He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”
- Hos 11:2They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.
- Jer 2:13“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
- Mal 2:8But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Jer 10:15They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
- Jer 17:13Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
- Isa 41:29Behold, all of them, their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.
- Hos 2:13I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.
- Matt 15:6he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
- Jer 16:19Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.
- Jer 13:25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh; “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”
- Jer 3:21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
- Jer 44:15–19Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
- Isa 62:10Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples.
- Jer 44:25Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’
- Rom 14:21It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
- Isa 9:16For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed.
- Jer 19:5and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I didn’t command, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:
- Isa 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
- Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 65:7your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 18:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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