I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood— you simply will not obey me!
Parallel translations
- WEB I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you didn’t obey my voice.
- KJV I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
- BSB I warned you when you were secure. You said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from youth, that you have not obeyed My voice.
- NKJV I spoke to you in your prosperity, But you said, ‘I will not hear.’ This has been your manner from your youth, That you did not obey My voice.
- NASB “I spoke to you in your prosperity; But you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth, That you have not obeyed My voice.
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 reminds Jerusalem that she refused to listen even in times of prosperity. Her rebellion has been lifelong.
Overview
The LORD recalls speaking to His people during their security, only to be met with defiant refusal, a pattern stretching back to their youth as a nation. Prosperity bred complacency and deafness to God's voice. This indictment shows that long-standing, habitual disobedience, not mere occasional failure, brought the coming judgment, warning every generation against hardening the heart in good times.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Jer 32:30“For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh.
- Jer 3:25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”
- Jer 7:22–28For I didn’t speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
- Ezek 23:3–39They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there.
- Prov 30:9lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
- Isa 48:8Yes, you didn’t hear; yes, you didn’t know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
- Jer 35:15I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Return now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them, and you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers:’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me.
- 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.’
- Ezek 20:8“‘“But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt.
- Deut 9:24You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.
- Ezek 20:28For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their pleasant aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings.
- Neh 9:16–37“But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,
- Ps 106:6–48We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
- Deut 31:27For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?
- 2 Chr 36:16–17but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
- Jer 36:21–26So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king.
- Ezek 20:13“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- Jer 2:31Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’
- 2 Chr 33:10Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they didn’t listen.
- Judg 2:11–19The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.
- Deut 9:7Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.
- Deut 32:15–20But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Ezek 20:21“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:21 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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