Jeremiah 25:4
in Jeremiah 25And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear),
KJV
And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
⋯
This verse in Jeremiah 25
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And the LORD has sent all
on Jeremiah 25:4-7
The LORD sent “all His servants the prophets to you again and again,” the phrase verse 3 uses of Jeremiah's own preaching. Verse 7 puts the refusal in the people's own loss, “to your own harm, you have not listened to Me.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 4, 5.) You did not incline your ears to listen when I said (Vulgate: said): Return to me, each one of you, from your evil ways and from your wicked thoughts. And you will dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and your fathers from eternity to eternity. The hardness of the people was so great that they would not even assume the habit of listening and incline their ear, particularly when the Lord was warning them to turn each one from their evil ways and from their wicked thoughts.
He mentions the great number of years in order to emphasize God's long-suffering in putting up with unbelievers for so long. I sent my servants the prophets to you, he says. I urged you to abandon the road to ruin and travel by the other …
A commentator
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus LactantiusDIVINE INSTITUTES 4:11 · Written before 325.
proposed
When the Jews often resisted wholesome precepts and departed from the divine law, going astray to the impious worship of false gods, then God filled just and chosen men with the Holy Spirit, appointing them as prophets in the midst of the people, by whom he might rebuke with threatening words the sins of the ungrateful people and nevertheless exhort them to repent of their wickedness. Unless they did this and, laying aside their vanities, returned to their God, it would come to pass that he would change his covenant, that is, bestow the inheritance of eternal life on foreign nations and collect to himself a more faithful people out of those who were aliens by birth. But they, when rebuked by the prophets, not only rejected their words but, being offended because they were scolded for their sins, killed the prophets with calculated tortures. All these things are sealed up and preserved in the sacred writings. For the prophet Jeremiah says, "I have sent to you my servants, the prophets. I sent them before light, and you hearkened not to me nor inclined your ears to hear when I said to you, 'Return, you, every one from this evil way and from your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in that land that I have given to you and to your ancestors forever and ever. Do not go after strange gods to serve them, and do not provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands for afflicting you.' "
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
A very express threatening of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, by the king of Babylon, for their contempt of God, and their continuance in sin (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But, besides those, there were many other of God's servants the prophets who preached awakening sermons, which were never published. And here God himself is said to rise early and send them, intimating how much his heart also was upon it, that this people should turn and live, and not go on and die, Ezek. xxxiii.
That very particular sin which they were told, of all others, was most offensive to God, and made them obnoxious to his justice, they wilfully persisted in: You provoke me with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Note, What is a provocation to God will prove, in the end, hurt to ourselves, and we must bear the blame of it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
rising early--(See on Jer 7:13). "The prophets" refer to Urijah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, &c. It aggravates their sin, that God sent not merely one but many messengers, and those messengers, prophets; and, that during all those years specified, Jeremiah and his fellow prophets spared no effort, late and early.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשָׁלַח֩ | veshalach | and he sent | H7971 → | 845 times |
| יְהוָ֨ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֲלֵיכֶ֜ם | ʾaleikhem | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֲבָדָ֧יו | ʾavadav | servants his | H5650 → | 799 times |
| הַנְּבִאִ֛ים | haneviim | the prophets | H5030 → | 314 times |
| הַשְׁכֵּ֥ם | hashkem | rising early | H7925 → | 65 times |
| וְשָׁלֹ֖חַ | veshaloach | and sending | H7971 → | 845 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם | shema'tem | you listened | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִטִּיתֶ֥ם | hititem | you inclined | H5186 → | 214 times |
| אֶֽת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אָזְנְכֶ֖ם | ʾazenekhem | ear your | H241 → | 187 times |
| לִשְׁמֹֽעַ׃ | lishmoa' | to listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
וְשָׁלַח֩and he sent
veshalachH7971 →845 times
יְהוָ֨הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֲלֵיכֶ֜םto you
ʾaleikhemH413 →5510 times
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֲבָדָ֧יוservants his
ʾavadavH5650 →799 times
הַנְּבִאִ֛יםthe prophets
haneviimH5030 →314 times
הַשְׁכֵּ֥םrising early
hashkemH7925 →65 times
וְשָׁלֹ֖חַand sending
veshaloachH7971 →845 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑םyou listened
shema'temH8085 →1159 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
הִטִּיתֶ֥םyou inclined
hititemH5186 →214 times
אֶֽת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אָזְנְכֶ֖םear your
ʾazenekhemH241 →187 times
לִשְׁמֹֽעַ׃to listen
lishmoa'H8085 →1159 times
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 25:3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:13
And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 11:7
For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 26:5
and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 1:2
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
- 2 Chronicles 34:3
In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem…
- Jeremiah 7:13
Through
Jeremiah 32:33They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 8:16
So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five…
- Jeremiah 2:27
say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble…
- Ezekiel 8:16
Through
Jeremiah 26:5and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,
it leads to
- Ezra 9:11
that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have…
- Ezra 9:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, DIVINE INSTITUTES 4:11; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, ON JEREMIAH 6:25.3-7.