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“Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will punish you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to abandon the Lord your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord God of armies.
Jeremiah 2:19 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “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.
  • KJV Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
  • BSB Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
  • NKJV Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the Lord your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lord God of hosts.
  • NLT Your wickedness will bring its own punishment. Your turning from me will shame you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him. I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

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

Their own wickedness and backsliding will punish and rebuke them. Sin carries its own bitter correction.

Overview

Yahweh declares that Israel's evil and apostasy will themselves chastise them, proving how bitter it is to forsake God and lose reverent fear of Him. Sin is not merely punished from outside; it breeds consequences that turn back on the sinner. This points to the need for a fear of the LORD that only grace can restore.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Isa 3:9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
  • Jer 4:18“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”
  • Jer 2:17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?
  • Ps 36:1For the Chief Musician. By David, the servant of Yahweh. An inner sanctuary is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
  • Hos 5:5The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.
  • Hos 11:7My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them.
  • Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
  • Jer 5:6Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.
  • Zech 7:11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
  • Hos 14:1Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.
  • Jer 3:6–8Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.
  • Rom 3:18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
  • Jer 8:5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit, they refuse to return.
  • Isa 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
  • Jer 3:22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
  • Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
  • Prov 5:22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
  • Hos 4:16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
  • Jer 36:23–24When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
  • Job 20:11–16His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
  • Isa 5:5Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
  • Jer 3:11–14Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
  • Prov 1:31Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 2:19YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 2:19 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.