Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”
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?
- BSB But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
- 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 10:22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
- Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Dan 9:7–8Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
- Job 35:6If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
- Jer 9:19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
- Jer 20:11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.
- Ezek 8:17–18Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
- Isa 45:16They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
- Deut 32:21–22They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
- Ezra 9:7Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
- Isa 1:24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies;
- Deut 32:16They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.
- Isa 1:20but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
- Jer 2:17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by 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.