The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?
Parallel translations
- WEB The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them?
- KJV The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
- BSB The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?
- NASB “The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, So what kind of wisdom do they have?
- NLT These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they so wise after all?
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
The self-styled wise are dismayed and trapped because they rejected Yahweh's word. Rejecting God's word empties any claim to wisdom.
Overview
Those who prided themselves on insight are exposed as fools, for they spurned the very revelation that is the beginning of wisdom. Jeremiah asks pointedly what wisdom can remain in people who discard God's word. The verse anchors true understanding in submission to God's revelation, the standard by which all human cleverness is measured and, in the gospel, found wanting apart from Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 119:98–100Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me.
- Job 5:12He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
- Jer 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 6:19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.
- Isa 19:11The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?”
- 1 Cor 1:18–29For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
- Deut 4:6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
- Ps 19:7Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul. Yahweh’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple.
- Ezek 7:26Mischief will come on mischief, and rumor will be on rumor. They will seek a vision of the prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- 2 Tim 3:15From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
- Jer 49:7Of Edom. Yahweh of Armies says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:9 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.