Jeremiah 18:15
in Jeremiah 18Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
KJV
Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Verse 15) Because my people have forgotten me, offering sacrifices in vain and stumbling in their ways, in the paths of the world (or eternal) in order to walk through them on an untrodden journey. Whoever forgets God and forsakes him, who says: 'I am the way' (John 14:6); offers sacrifices to foreign gods, stumbles in his own ways, not God's, and forsakes the ancient and eternal paths, which are trodden by the footsteps of all who worship God.
This site's exposition
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon
on Jeremiah 18:14-17
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, or forsake the cold flowing waters, argues from nature's constancy against Israel's inconstancy, the mountains keep their snow and the rivers keep their course while my people hath forgotten me. Barnes reads the ancient paths of verse 15 as the patriarchal way already old in Jeremiah's day, abandoned for paths not cast up, tracks that lead nowhere because no one laid them. The scattering as with an east wind before the enemy in verse 17 recalls the desert wind that withers rather than refreshes, judgment pictured as the harshest weather the land knows.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Because my people hath forgotten me,.... Or, "that they have forgotten me" (z); this is the horrible thing they have done, which was unheard of among the Gentiles, who were always tenacious of their gods, and the worship of them; and that foolish and unwise thing, which was like leaving pure flowing streams of water for dirty puddles.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Because - “For.” Jeremiah returns to, and continues the words of, Jer 18:13. Vanity - A word meaning “falsehood,” which signifies that the worship of idols is not merely useless but injurious. They have caused them to stumble - Judah’s prophets and priests were they who made her to err Jer 5:31. The idols were of themselves powerless for good or evil.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This implies a previous knowledge of God, whereas He was unknown to the Gentiles; the Jews' forgetting of God, therefore, arose from determined perversity. they have caused . . . to stumble--namely the false prophets and idolatrous priests have. ancient paths-- (Jer 6:16): the paths which their pious ancestors trod.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
For so have My people done, that they have forgotten Me and burnt incense to vanity.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Shall one abandon from rocks of the field the snow of Lebanon Shall a man who needs to drink abandon water that flows from the rock in the fields that comes from the snow of the Lebanon, which is clean?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שְׁכֵחֻ֥נִי | shekhechuni | they have forgotten me | H7911 → | 102 times |
| עַמִּ֖י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לַשָּׁ֣וְא | lashav' | to <the> falsehood | H7723 → | 53 times |
| יְקַטֵּ֑רוּ | yekateru | they make smoke | H6999 → | 116 times |
| וַיַּכְשִׁל֤וּם | vaiyakhshilum | and they have caused to stumble them | H3782 → | 62 times |
| בְּדַרְכֵיהֶם֙ | bedarkheihem | in ways their | H1870 → | 707 times |
| שְׁבִילֵ֣י | shevilei | paths of | H7635 → | |
| עוֹלָ֔ם | olam | antiquity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| לָלֶ֣כֶת | lalekhet | to walk | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| נְתִיב֔וֹת | netivot | paths | H5410 → | |
| דֶּ֖רֶךְ | derekh | a way | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| סְלוּלָֽה׃ | selulah | built up | H5549 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שְׁכֵחֻ֥נִיthey have forgotten me
shekhechuniH7911 →102 times
עַמִּ֖יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
לַשָּׁ֣וְאto <the> falsehood
lashav'H7723 →53 times
יְקַטֵּ֑רוּthey make smoke
yekateruH6999 →116 times
וַיַּכְשִׁל֤וּםand they have caused to stumble them
vaiyakhshilumH3782 →62 times
בְּדַרְכֵיהֶם֙in ways their
bedarkheihemH1870 →707 times
שְׁבִילֵ֣יpaths of
shevileiH7635 →
עוֹלָ֔םantiquity
olamH5769 →438 times
לָלֶ֣כֶתto walk
lalekhetH1980 →1546 times
נְתִיב֔וֹתpaths
netivotH5410 →
דֶּ֖רֶךְa way
derekhH1870 →707 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
סְלוּלָֽה׃built up
selulahH5549 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 6:16This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.…
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:21
And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
- Deuteronomy 32:7
Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
- Matthew 11:28–29
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Jeremiah 7:23
but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that…
- Colossians 2:6
Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,
- Isaiah 30:21
Through
Isaiah 57:14And it will be said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, take every obstacle out of the way of My people.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 62:10
Go out, go out through the gates; prepare the way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones; raise a banner for the nations!
- Luke 3:5–6
Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
- Isaiah 35:8
And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Isaiah 62:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).