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Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
Jeremiah 7:26 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB yet they didn’t listen to me, nor did they incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.
  • KJV Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
  • BSB Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
  • NASB Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.
  • NLT But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.

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

Yet they would not listen, but stiffened their necks and acted worse than their fathers. Each generation deepened the rebellion rather than learning from the past.

Overview

'Stiffened their neck' is a vivid image of obstinate refusal to submit. Tragically, they grew worse than previous generations instead of repenting. The downward spiral shows how unrepentant sin compounds over time and makes judgment unavoidable.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Jer 16:12and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me.
  • 2 Chr 30:8Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
  • Jer 19:15“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”
  • Jer 17:23But they didn’t listen, neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
  • Jer 7:24But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
  • Matt 23:32Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
  • 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 11:8Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but walked everyone in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’”
  • Dan 9:6neither have we listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
  • Prov 29:1He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
  • Jer 25:3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.
  • Neh 9:16–17“But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,
  • Jer 6:17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’
  • Jer 44:16“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
  • Isa 48:4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
  • 2 Kgs 17:14Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
  • Jer 34:14At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you; but your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear.
  • Jer 25:7“Yet you have not listened to me,” says Yahweh; “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
  • Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
  • Neh 9:29and testified against them, that you might bring them again to your law. Yet they were arrogant, and didn’t listen to your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear.
  • Jer 26:5to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;
  • Jer 29:19because they have not listened to my words,” says Yahweh, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says Yahweh.
  • Matt 21:38But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
  • 2 Chr 33:10Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they didn’t listen.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 7:26YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 7:26 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.