Jeremiah 3:23
in Jeremiah 3Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
KJV
Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
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This verse in Jeremiah 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseTruly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains,.... From any natural defence, by hills and mountains encompassing; or from idols worshipped on hills and mountains.
This site's exposition
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.
on Jeremiah 3:22-25
The invitation receives its answer in the same breath, behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God, the people's voice entering the chapter for the first time in agreement rather than excuse. Salvation is relocated from geography to God himself, truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains, the high places that drew Israel's worship named again as a false hope. The confession that closes the chapter owns the sin across generations, we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, shame taken rather than excused, which the bench reads as the pattern true repentance follows.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 23.) Behold, we come to you: for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills were deceitful, and the multitude (or strength) of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Let the penitent say this, forsaking all pride, and the multitude or height of the mountains and hills, by which he exalted himself against God, and being humbled, let him speak: Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
Then, having condemned our former evils — when we thought the idols great and lofty things, and worshipped and regarded as wonderful the things we served; but now have condemned them, judging that all those things were false and were nothing — we say, turning back: "Truly the hills were for a lie," we too having condemned our former lofty things and our former wonders. And perhaps, if we exercise some skill, we shall find the difference between the hills and the mountains among the nations, which, having forsaken, those who said "Behold, here we are, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God" accuse them as false, both the hills and the mountains. What, then, is the difference between the mountains and the hills among the nations, which, having condemned, we say: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains"? This we say, having condemned our former things. Of the objects of worship among the nations, some are worshipped as gods, and some as heroes. For they themselves confess concerning certain of them that they were formerly men and were deified. They worship Heracles not as a god by birth, but as one changed from a man into a god; they worship Asclepius as one who, from among men, on account of virtue, was changed into a god. But whenever they worship the fathers of these, named gods among them, they worship them not as having changed from men into gods, but, as those men suppose, as being gods from the beginning. Those, then, who are reckoned by the nations to be gods from the beginning will be the mountains and "the power of the mountains," while those reckoned among them now to be gods, but formerly to have been men, these are "the hills." Having come to know, then, both ranks of the objects of worship, "truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains." For those who serve them do not suppose that these things are false. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The hills - From idols which were worshipped upon hills. Mountains - The multitude of sacrifices, which they offer in the mountains.
The charge runs very high here. They had multiplied their idols and their idolatries. To have admitted one strange God among them would have been bad enough, but they were insatiable in their lustings after false worships: Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Rather, Surely “in vain from the hills” is the revelry of the mountains. The penitents contrast in it the uselessness of idol-worship with the salvation which Yahweh gives to His people.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2452: “Hope for the Worst Backsliders” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
SIN is quite sure to cause sorrow—and the longer the sorrow is delayed, the heavier it will be when it comes. This ship may be long at sea, but it will come home, at last, with a heavy cargo. There was never a man who broke the Law of God who had not in the end to rue it. "He that digs a pit shall fall into it and who breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him," is one of Solomon's sayings, and it is most certainly true.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2452: “Hope for the Worst Backsliders” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
SIN is quite sure to cause sorrow—and the longer the sorrow is delayed, the heavier it will be when it comes. This ship may be long at sea, but it will come home, at last, with a heavy cargo. There was never a man who broke the Law of God who had not in the end to rue it. "He that digs a pit shall fall into it and who breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him," is one of Solomon's sayings, and it is most certainly true. How many there are in this world who have upon them a load of sorrow which is plainly and evidently the result of their own folly and iniquity! Their sin procured it for them. There is also a godly sorrow which comes after sin has been committed and which is not merely occasioned by the sin, but by the love of God and the action of the Spirit of God upon the heart. When God means to save a man, He usually begins by making him sorrow on account of his evil ways. It is the sharp steel needle of the Law of God that goes through the convicted heart and draws the silken thread of comfort and salvation after it! It is not God's way to make men alive, again, until they are really dead. I mean, that, spiritually, they must be first, slain by the Law, before they are made alive by the Gospel. It is not God's way to heal the unwounded heart, or to provide garments for those who are already clothed. Our heart must be broken and we, ourselves, must be stripped before the healing balm can be applied—and the robe of righteousness can be put upon us. I know that what I say upon this subject will be had in small esteem by those who have not learned the evil of sin. It is to such, only, as have felt the arrows of the Lord's righteous anger rankling in their spirit that the Gospel message will come with any kind of sweetness.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָכֵ֥ן | ʾakhen | truly | H403 → | 18 times |
| לַשֶּׁ֛קֶר | lasheker | to <the> deception | H8267 → | 113 times |
| מִגְּבָע֖וֹת | migevaot | from [the] hills | H1389 → | 68 times |
| הָמ֣וֹן | hamon | a tumult | H1995 → | 83 times |
| הָרִ֑ים | harim | mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| אָכֵן֙ | ʾakhen | truly | H403 → | 18 times |
| בַּיהֹוָ֣ה | bayahweh | [is] in Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| תְּשׁוּעַ֖ת | teshuat | [the] salvation of | H8668 → | |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
אָכֵ֥ןtruly
ʾakhenH403 →18 times
לַשֶּׁ֛קֶרto <the> deception
lashekerH8267 →113 times
מִגְּבָע֖וֹתfrom [the] hills
migevaotH1389 →68 times
הָמ֣וֹןa tumult
hamonH1995 →83 times
הָרִ֑יםmountains
harimH2022 →546 times
אָכֵן֙truly
ʾakhenH403 →18 times
בַּיהֹוָ֣ה[is] in Yahweh
bayahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
תְּשׁוּעַ֖ת[the] salvation of
teshuatH8668 →
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 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
Isaiah 12:2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
it leads to
- Revelation 7:10
And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
- Psalms 118:14
The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.
- Psalms 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— whom shall I dread?
- Isaiah 26:3–4
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Revelation 7:10
Through
Psalms 3:8Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:11
I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- Jonah 2:9
But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”
- Isaiah 43:11
Through
John 4:22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
it leads to
- Acts 17:23
For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to…
- Acts 17:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2452: “Hope for the Worst Backsliders” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 5.