To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, Yahweh’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.
Parallel translations
- KJV To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
- BSB To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
- NKJV To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.
- NASB To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become for them a rebuke; They take no delight in it.
- NLT To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all.
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 laments that no one will listen because their ears are 'uncircumcised' and God's word has become offensive to them. The deepest barrier to repentance is a heart that despises God's truth.
Overview
'Uncircumcised ear' means a heart closed and unconsecrated, unable to receive God's word with delight. The people treat divine revelation as a reproach rather than a gift. This spiritual deafness shows why the New Covenant promise of a transformed heart, fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit, is so necessary.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 34
- Acts 7:51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Jer 7:26yet they didn’t listen to me, nor did they incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.
- Heb 11:7By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
- John 7:7The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.
- Exod 6:12Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel haven’t listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, who am of uncircumcised lips?”
- Isa 53:1Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
- 2 Tim 4:3For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;
- Amos 7:10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.
- Ps 119:16I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. GIMEL
- Jer 20:8–9For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
- Acts 7:60He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
- Luke 11:45One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.”
- Ps 119:77Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.
- Rom 7:22For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
- Ezek 33:9Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.
- Ps 119:24Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors. DALED
- Ezek 33:3if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
- Isa 42:23–25Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
- Luke 20:19The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people — for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
- Col 1:28whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
- Jer 5:4–5Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God.
- Ps 40:8I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
- Deut 29:4But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
- Isa 28:9–13Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?
- Ps 119:70Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
- Ezek 3:18–21When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.
- Ps 119:174I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh. Your law is my delight.
- John 9:40Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
- Jer 4:4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Matt 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
- Ps 1:2but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
- 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;
- Isa 6:9–10He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
- Ps 119:35Direct me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in them.
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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 6:10 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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