Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each one proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
Parallel translations
- WEB You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name;
- KJV And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
- BSB Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.
- NKJV Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
- NLT Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name.
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
Recently the people had done right by proclaiming liberty in God's house. Their initial obedience was genuinely good and covenanted before God.
Overview
God acknowledges that their proclamation of freedom was right in His eyes and ratified in the temple, His own house. This makes their later reversal all the more grievous. The verse shows that God notices and approves true obedience, while setting up the gravity of the betrayal that followed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 34:8The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;
- 2 Kgs 23:3The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.
- Jer 7:10–11and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered;’ that you may do all these abominations?
- Neh 10:29they joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes;
- 2 Kgs 12:2Jehoash did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
- Ps 76:11Make vows to Yahweh your God, and fulfill them! Let all of his neighbors bring presents to him who is to be feared.
- 2 Kgs 10:30–31Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
- Ps 119:106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will obey your righteous ordinances.
- Isa 58:2Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God.
- 1 Kgs 21:27–29When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
- Jer 34:10–11All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant, and everyone his female servant, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go:
- 2 Kgs 14:3He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done.
- Matt 15:8‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
- Jer 32:34But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
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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 34:15 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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