For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another,
Parallel translations
- WEB For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
- KJV For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
- NKJV “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor,
- NASB For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor,
- NLT But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice;
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 says that only if they truly reform their ways and practice justice will they remain in the land. True repentance shows itself in changed behavior toward others.
Overview
The conditional 'if you thoroughly amend' stresses sincerity and depth, not token change. Justice between neighbors becomes a concrete test of genuine repentance. God ties the people's security to ethical faithfulness, showing that authentic faith always bears fruit in righteous living.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 4:1–2“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,
- Isa 1:19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.
- 1 Kgs 6:12–13“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.
- Jer 7:3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.
- Jer 22:3This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
- Ezek 18:8He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
- Ezek 18:17He withholds his hand from harming the poor and takes no interest or usury. He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes. Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
- Isa 16:3“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
- Judg 21:12So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
- Judg 5:1On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:
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 7:5 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.