But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’
- BSB Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.
- NKJV “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.
- NASB And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.
- NLT Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the Lord their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips.
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 is to declare them the nation that would not obey God or receive correction, where truth has perished. The collapse of truthfulness marks a society in deep spiritual decay.
Overview
The people are summed up as those deaf to God's voice and resistant to discipline. 'Truth has perished' describes a culture where honesty and faithfulness have vanished from speech. This diagnosis underscores that the breakdown of truth is both cause and symptom of separation from God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 59:14–15And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
- Jer 32:33And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
- Prov 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Isa 1:4–5Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
- Zeph 3:2She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
- Jer 6:29–30The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Jer 5:3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
- Zeph 3:7I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
- Jer 9:3–8And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
- Hos 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
- Mic 7:2–5The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
- Jer 5:1Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
- Jer 2:30In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
- Jer 6:8Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
- Ps 50:17Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.
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 7:28 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.