Jeremiah 4:22

God indicts His people as foolish children who are clever at evil but ignorant of doing good. It matters because it diagnoses sin as a deep, willful folly, not mere ignorance.

Cross-references · 28

• 1 Cor 14:20Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
• Rom 16:19For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
• Jer 5:21Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
• Rom 3:11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
• Hos 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
• Rom 1:22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
• Hos 5:4They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
• John 16:3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
• Mic 2:1Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
• Deut 32:28For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
• Rom 1:28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
• Isa 6:9–10And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
• Isa 27:11When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
• Jer 13:23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
• Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
• Isa 1:3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
• 1 Cor 1:20–21Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
• Jer 5:4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
• Ps 14:1–4The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
• Isa 42:19–20Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant?
• 2 Sam 16:21–23And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father’s concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.
• Jer 8:7–9Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
• Deut 32:6Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
• Luke 16:8And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
• Hos 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
• Matt 23:16–26Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
• Isa 29:10–12For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
• 2 Sam 13:3But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.

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.