I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’ for I, the Lord, am discarding them.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”
- KJV Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
- BSB They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
- NKJV People will call them rejected silver, Because the Lord has rejected them.”
- NASB They call them rejected silver, Because the Lord has rejected them.
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
Because they cannot be purified, the people are called 'rejected silver,' for the LORD has rejected them. Persistent, unrepentant sin can bring God's solemn rejection.
Overview
The refining metaphor reaches its grim conclusion: worthless metal cast aside. God's rejection here is the judicial response to a nation that spurned every means of grace. Yet this rejection of Judah's generation stands against the backdrop of God's larger plan to preserve a faithful remnant and bring forth the Messiah.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Hos 9:17My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.
- Ps 119:119You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love your testimonies.
- Isa 1:22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
- Isa 1:25and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
- Matt 5:13“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
- Prov 25:4Take away the dross from the silver, and material comes out for the refiner;
- Jer 7:29Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
- Lam 5:22But you have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us.
- Jer 14:19Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!
- Rom 11:1I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
- Ezek 22:18–19“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 6:30 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.