Jeremiah 6:28
in Jeremiah 6All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.
KJV
They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
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This verse in Jeremiah 6
Commentary
7 notes on this versePerhaps he will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, the heedless is heedless, and the lawless person acts lawlessly, naught is the heavenly correction, naught the scourges. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed, as I once reproached you by the mouth of Jeremiah, the founder melted the silver in vain, your evil deeds are not melted away. Can you abide my wrath? says the Lord. Has not my hand the power to inflict on you other plagues also?
This site's exposition
I have appointed you to examine My people like ore
on Jeremiah 6:27-30
Jeremiah is given a new office, set to examine the people “like ore, so you may know and try their ways”. The refining reports failure, “The bellows blow fiercely” yet “The refining proceeds in vain”. The verdict is returned, “They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them”.
This site's exposition
All are hardened rebels
Gill renders the Hebrew as revolters of revolters, the greatest rebels of all. Bronze and iron are baser metals than silver, and Barnes notes how the passage interweaves moral and metallurgical terms. Slander travels with them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 27 and following) I have appointed you as a strong tester among my people, and you will know and prove their ways. All these leaders are turning away (or disobedient), walking deceitfully (or perversely). Bronze and iron are all corrupted, the bellows in the fire have failed (which the Greeks more significantly call a 'puffer'), the lead is consumed, the refiner has vainly blown (or the moneylender). For their wickedness is not consumed: call them reprobate silver, for the Lord has rejected them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They are all grievous revolters,.... From the right way of God and his worship: or, they are all revolters of revolters (e); of all, the greatest revolters, the greatest sinners and transgressors, the most stubborn and disobedient; or sons of revolters; fathers and children are alike. The Targum, is, "all their princes rebel;'' and so the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions: "walking with slanders": of one another; or with deceit, as the Targum; in a hypocritical and fraudulent manner; playing the hypocrite with God, or tricking and deceiving their neighbours.
They were as silver and gold, but they have degenerated. Nay, as they are all revolters, so they are all corrupters, not only debauched themselves, but industrious to debauch others, to corrupt them as they themselves are corrupt; nay, to make them seven times more the children of hell than themselves. It is often so; sinners soon become tempters.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
grievous revolters--literally, "contumacious of the contumacious," that is, most contumacious, the Hebrew mode of expressing a superlative. So "the strong among the mighty," that is, the strongest (Eze 32:21).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֻּלָּם֙ | kulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| סָרֵ֣י | sarei | [are those who] turn aside of | H5493 → | 299 times |
| סֽוֹרְרִ֔ים | sorim | rebels | H5637 → | |
| הֹלְכֵ֥י | holekhei | [those who] go about of | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| רָכִ֖יל | rakhil | slander | H7400 → | |
| נְחֹ֣שֶׁת | nechoshet | bronze | H5178 → | 140 times |
| וּבַרְזֶ֑ל | uvarzel | and iron | H1270 → | 76 times |
| כֻּלָּ֥ם | kulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַשְׁחִיתִ֖ים | mashchitim | [are] destroyers | H7843 → | 146 times |
| הֵֽמָּה׃ | hemah | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
כֻּלָּם֙all of them
kulamH3605 →5413 times
סָרֵ֣י[are those who] turn aside of
sareiH5493 →299 times
סֽוֹרְרִ֔יםrebels
sorimH5637 →
הֹלְכֵ֥י[those who] go about of
holekheiH1980 →1546 times
רָכִ֖ילslander
rakhilH7400 →
נְחֹ֣שֶׁתbronze
nechoshetH5178 →140 times
וּבַרְזֶ֑לand iron
uvarzelH1270 →76 times
כֻּלָּ֥םall of them
kulamH3605 →5413 times
מַשְׁחִיתִ֖ים[are] destroyers
mashchitimH7843 →146 times
הֵֽמָּה׃they
hemahH1992 →553 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 9:4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:18
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 7:5–6
Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- Proverbs 26:24–25
A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
- Proverbs 10:18
Through
Jeremiah 18:18Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us…
it leads to
- Psalms 52:2
Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, O worker of deceit.
- Jeremiah 11:19
For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from…
- Malachi 2:7
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Psalms 52:2
Through
Jeremiah 20:10For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that…
it leads to
- Psalms 41:9
Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
- Psalms 31:13
For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side. They conspire against me and plot to take my life.
- Psalms 41:9
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; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON HIS FATHER'S SILENCE, ORATION 16:11; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.