Jeremiah 6:29

The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

ASV

The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.

YLT

The bellows have been burnt, By fire hath the lead been consumed, In vain hath a refiner refined, And the wicked have not been drawn away.

DBT

The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; they have melted, and melted in vain; and the bad are not plucked away.

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On this verse

The bellows are burnt,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

Perhaps 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?

Gregory of Nazianzus· ON HIS FATHER'S SILENCE, ORATION 16:11, 390patristic

(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.

Jerome· Commentary on Jeremiah, 420patristic

The bellows are burned - Worn out by continual blowing. The prophet has exhausted all his efforts. His heart, consumed by the heat of divine inspiration, can labor no more. Others translate The bellows snort, i. e., blow furiously. More probably, The bellows glow with the strong heat of the fire. Plucked away - Separated. The smelters object is to separate the metal from the dross.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

Oppression - There are found in her all kinds of oppression and injustice. Be thou instructed - I would yet willingly spare them if it might be. Depart - Hebrew. be disjointed, a most emphatical metaphor, whereby God would express how great grief it is to him to withdraw himself from them, even like the separating one limb from another.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

The bellows - The prophet prosecutes his metaphor taken from refining of metals, intimating, that the prophets had spent their breath to no purpose, and their strength was consumed by their labour. The lead - The judgments which were heavy, as lead upon them, are all wasted, and do no good. In vain - Let the artist use his greatest skill and industry, yet is it all in vain.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

The bellows have been still kept so near the fire, to blow it, that they are burnt with the heat of it, or they are quite worn out with long use and thrown into the fire as good for nothing. The prophets have preached their throats sore with crying aloud against the sins of Israel, and yet they are not convinced and humbled.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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Cross-references

19 linked verses

The verses this one reaches12

Jeremiah 9:7
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?
Isaiah 1:25
I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.
Isaiah 5:4
What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?
Isaiah 49:4
But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the LORD, and My reward is with My God.”
Malachi 3:2–3
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
Zechariah 13:9
This third I will bring through the fire;I will refine them like silverand test them like gold.They will call on My name,and I will answer them.I will say, ‘They are My people,’and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
Proverbs 17:3
A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
Hosea 11:7
My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them.
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Ezekiel 24:13
Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
Jeremiah 2:30
“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
Jeremiah 7:28
Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.

7 more linked verses are grouped by book below ↓

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Original language

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

About this book

The Prophet Jeremiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Jeremiah — The weeping prophet of Judah's final generation — 627 BC call under Josiah to the 586 BC fall of Jerusalem and into Egyptian exile. Fifty-two chapters of lament, confrontation, and covenant promise, with the New Covenant glimpsed at the book's theological apex.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, of the priestly family of Anathoth (1:1); Baruch the scribe assisted with dictation (36:4, 45:1)
Date: Ministry c. 627–580 BC; book compiled during and after the 586 BC exile

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Zechariah 13:9
This third I will bring through the fire;I will refine them like silverand test them like gold.They will call on My name,and I will answer them.I will say, ‘They are My people,’and they will…
leads to
- Isaiah 48:10
  See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
  Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
- Psalms 50:15
  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
- Jeremiah 29:11–12
  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
- Acts 2:21
  And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
- Isaiah 65:23–24
  They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to disaster; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD— they and their descendants with them.
Through
Proverbs 17:3
A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
leads to
- Jeremiah 17:10
  I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Psalms 26:2
  Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
- Proverbs 27:21
  A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise accorded him.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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Continue: Jeremiah 6 →