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“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
Jeremiah 2:30 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
  • KJV In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
  • NKJV “In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
  • NASB “In vain I have struck your sons; They did not accept discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
  • NLT “I have punished your children, but they did not respond to my discipline. You yourselves have killed your prophets as a lion kills its prey.

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 discipline failed to correct them, and they even killed His prophets. Their hearts remained hardened.

Overview

Yahweh laments that He struck their children to no avail, for they accepted no correction, and they devoured His prophets like a ravening lion. Neither chastening nor warning turned their hearts. Killing the messengers anticipates the rejection that culminated in the murder of God's own Son.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Neh 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
  • Acts 7:52Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
  • 1 Th 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
  • Isa 1:5Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
  • Jer 26:20–24Now there was another man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land the same things that Jeremiah did.
  • Jer 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
  • Matt 23:29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
  • Jer 7:28Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.
  • Isa 9:13But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
  • Mark 12:2–8At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
  • Luke 11:47–51Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
  • Rev 9:20–21Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
  • Zeph 3:2She heeded no voice; she accepted no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she has not drawn near to her God.
  • Matt 23:34–37Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.
  • Matt 21:35–36But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
  • 2 Chr 36:16But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
  • Luke 13:33–34Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.
  • Jer 31:18I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
  • 2 Chr 28:22In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.
  • 1 Kgs 19:14“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
  • 1 Kgs 19:10“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
  • 2 Chr 24:21But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.
  • Rev 16:9And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
  • Jer 6:29–30The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.
  • Ezek 24:13Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 2:30YouTube · 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 2:30 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.