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“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord, “And against your children’s children I will bring charges.
Jeremiah 2:9 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh, “and I will contend with your children’s children.
  • KJV Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
  • BSB Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.
  • NASB ¶“Therefore I will still contend with you,” declares the Lord, “And I will contend with your sons’ sons.
  • NLT Therefore, I will bring my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will even bring charges against your children’s children in the years to come.

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 declares He will press His legal case against them and their descendants. The covenant lawsuit will continue.

Overview

Yahweh announces He will contend with Israel and even their children's children. The language is that of a sustained legal dispute over broken covenant. God's persistence here reflects both His justice in confronting sin and His commitment to His people across generations.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Ezek 20:35–36I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
  • Jer 2:35“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’ “Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
  • Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
  • Mic 6:2Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
  • Isa 3:13Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples.
  • Lev 20:5then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all who play the prostitute after him, to play the prostitute with Molech, from among their people.
  • Jer 2:29“Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh.
  • Hos 2:2Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
  • Isa 43:26Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.

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 2:9YouTube · 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 2:9 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.