But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
Parallel translations
- WEB Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”
- KJV Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
- NKJV Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
- NASB Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their own shame?”
- NLT Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”
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
God asks whether they really harm Him by their idolatry, or rather shame and ruin themselves. Sin's deepest damage falls back upon the sinner.
Overview
God's rhetorical question reframes their rebellion: it cannot diminish Him, but it brings confusion and disgrace on themselves. Idolatry is ultimately self-destructive. The verse reveals the mercy embedded even in God's warnings, since He desires to spare them from the ruin their sin invites.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Cor 10:22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
- Jer 2:19Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Dan 9:7–8To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.
- Job 35:6If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
- Jer 9:19For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”
- Jer 20:11But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.
- Ezek 8:17–18“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
- Isa 45:16They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
- Deut 32:21–22They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
- Ezra 9:7From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.
- Isa 1:24Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.
- Deut 32:16They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
- Isa 1:20But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- Jer 2:17Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
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 7:19 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.