They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen to accept discipline.
Parallel translations
- WEB They have turned to me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
- KJV And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
- BSB They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
- NKJV And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
- NLT My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.
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
The people turned their backs on God and refused His persistent teaching. Their hardened refusal to listen brought judgment.
Overview
Despite God's tireless instruction, depicted as 'rising up early and teaching,' the people would not receive correction. Their turning the back rather than the face pictures deliberate rejection of relationship with God. Such stubbornness highlights the need for the inward renewal of the new covenant, in which God writes His law on the heart so His people will hear and obey (Jer. 31:33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 7:13Now, because you have done all these works,” says Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer:
- Ezek 8:16He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and I saw at the door of Yahweh’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward Yahweh’s temple, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
- Jer 2:27who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’
- 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 26:5to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;
- John 8:2Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.
- 2 Chr 36:15–16Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place;
- Jer 7:24But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
- Jer 44:4However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- Zech 7:11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
- Jer 18:17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
- Hos 11:2They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.
- Jer 25:3–4From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.
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 32:33 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.