Limitless Word
And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you,
Jeremiah 26:4 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
  • KJV And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
  • NKJV And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,
  • NASB And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “If you do not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,
  • NLT “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you will not listen to me and obey my word I have given you,

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

Jeremiah is to warn that if they will not listen and walk in God's law set before them, judgment follows. Obedience to God's revealed word is the condition of blessing.

Overview

The LORD frames the message conditionally: continued refusal to heed His word and walk in His law will bring the threatened disaster. God's covenant calls for obedient response to His revealed will. The verse, beginning the substance of the temple sermon, sets the stakes of either heeding or rejecting God's word.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • 1 Kgs 9:6But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
  • Jer 44:10To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed My instruction or the statutes that I set before you and your fathers.
  • Isa 1:20But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
  • 2 Chr 7:19–20But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,
  • Josh 23:15–16But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
  • Deut 11:32be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.
  • Deut 32:15–25But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
  • Neh 9:26–30But 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.
  • Deut 4:8And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
  • Isa 42:23–25Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?
  • Deut 31:16–18And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
  • Deut 29:18–28Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,
  • Deut 28:15–68If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
  • Heb 6:18Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
  • Deut 31:20When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
  • Lev 26:14–46If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
  • Deut 4:44This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 26:4YouTube · 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 26:4 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.