Jeremiah 7:23
in Jeremiah 7but 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 it may go well with you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
KJV
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
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This verse in Jeremiah 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verseIn a manner most germane to this parable, He said by Jeremiah: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and ye shall walk in all my ways, which I have commanded you." This is the invitation of God. "But," says He, "they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear." This is the refusal of the people. "They departed, and walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart." "I have bought a field-and I have bought some oxen-and I have married a wife."
This site's exposition
Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices
on Jeremiah 7:21-23
Verse 22 says the LORD “did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices”, for the sacrificial law was not the first word. That first word stands in verse 23, “Obey Me, and I will be your God”.
This site's exposition
Obey Me, and I will be your God
Barnes reads the words as a summary of what God commanded the fathers when he brought them out of Egypt, pointing to Exodus 19:5-6. To obey and walk in his ways is the covenant's goal. Tertullian hears God's invitation here, and the people's refusal in verse 24.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
He has therefore abolished these things, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of necessity, might have a human oblation. And again He says to them, "Did I command your fathers, when they went out from the land …
(Verses 22-23) For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.'
A commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsCONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 6:4.22 · Written before 380.
proposed
You are blessed who are delivered from the curse. Christ, the Son of God, by his coming has confirmed and completed the law but has taken away the additional precepts, although not all of them, yet at least the more grievous ones. He confirmed the former and abolished the latter, and he has again set the free will of humankind at liberty. He does not subject them to the penalty of a temporal death but gives laws to them according to another constitution. For this reason, he says, "If anyone will come after me, let him come." And again, "Will you also go away?" And besides, before his coming he refused the sacrifices of the people, while they frequently offered them, when they sinned against him and thought he was to be appeased by sacrifices but not by repentance.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He appeals to the original contract, by which they were first formed into a people, when they were brought out of Egypt. God made them a kingdom of priests to himself, not that he might be regaled with their sacrifices, as the devils, whom the heathen worshipped, which are represented as eating with pleasure the fat of their sacrifices and drinking the wine of their drink-offerings, Deut. xxxii.
But this thing commanded I them, saying,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Obey ... - These words are not found verbatim in the Pentateuch, but are a sum mary of its principles. Sacrifice is never the final cause of the covenant, but always obedience (Exo 19:5-6; Lev 11:45. Compare Exo. 20; Deut. 11, in which the moral object of the Mosaic dispensation is most clearly taught). In connection with Jeremiah’s argument, notice that Amo 5:25 (taken in conjunction with Jos 5:2-7) proves that the ceremonial law was not observed during the 40 years’ wandering in the wilderness.
This thing commanded I them - Obey my voice - It was not sacrifices and oblations which I required of your fathers in the wilderness, but obedience; it was to walk in that way of righteousness which I have commanded; then I should have acknowledged them for my people, and I should have been their God, and then it would have been well with them. But to my commands, 1. They hearkened not - paid no regard to my word. 2. They inclined not the ear - showed no disposition to attend to my counsels. 3. They walked in the imaginations of their evil heart - followed its irregular and impure motions, rather than the holy dictates of my Spirit. 4. They went backward and not forward. Instead of becoming more wise, obedient, and holy, they grew more corrupt; so that they became more profligate than their fathers.
The words behind it
26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִֽם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַדָּבָ֣ר | hadavar | the matter | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| הַ֠זֶּה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| צִוִּ֨יתִי | tziviti | I commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| אוֹתָ֤ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לֵאמֹר֙ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שִׁמְע֣וּ | shimu | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְקוֹלִ֔י | vekoli | to voice my | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וְהָיִ֤יתִי | vehayiti | and I will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָכֶם֙ | lakhem | for <the> you | ||
| לֵֽאלֹהִ֔ים | lelohim | <into> God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| וְאַתֶּ֖ם | veatem | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| תִּֽהְיוּ־ | tihyu- | you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לִ֣י | li | for <the> me | ||
| לְעָ֑ם | leam | <into> a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֗ם | vahalakhtem | and you will walk | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | in every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ | haderekh | <the> way | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אֲצַוֶּ֣ה | ʾatzaveh | I will command | H6680 → | 494 times |
| אֶתְכֶ֔ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְמַ֖עַן | lemaan | so that | H4616 → | 272 times |
| יִיטַ֥ב | yitav | it may go well | H3190 → | 117 times |
| לָכֶֽם׃ | lakhem | for <the> you |
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִֽם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַדָּבָ֣רthe matter
hadavarH1697 →1440 times
הַ֠זֶּה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
צִוִּ֨יתִיI commanded
tzivitiH6680 →494 times
אוֹתָ֤ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
לֵאמֹר֙<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
שִׁמְע֣וּlisten
shimuH8085 →1159 times
בְקוֹלִ֔יto voice my
vekoliH6963 →506 times
וְהָיִ֤יתִיand I will become
vehayitiH1961 →3559 times
לָכֶם֙for <the> you
lakhem
לֵֽאלֹהִ֔ים<into> God
lelohimH430 →2601 times
וְאַתֶּ֖םand you
veatemH859 →1094 times
תִּֽהְיוּ־you will become
tihyu-H1961 →3559 times
לִ֣יfor <the> me
li
לְעָ֑ם<into> a people
leamH5971 →1873 times
וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֗םand you will walk
vahalakhtemH1980 →1546 times
בְּכָל־in every
bekholH3605 →5413 times
הַדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙<the> way
haderekhH1870 →707 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אֲצַוֶּ֣הI will command
ʾatzavehH6680 →494 times
אֶתְכֶ֔ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
לְמַ֖עַןso that
lemaanH4616 →272 times
יִיטַ֥בit may go well
yitavH3190 →117 times
לָכֶֽם׃for <the> you
lakhem
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
Exodus 15:26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then…
it leads to
- Psalms 103:3
He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
- Deuteronomy 7:15
And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
- Exodus 23:25
So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.
- Psalms 41:3–4
The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.
- Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
- Psalms 103:3
Through
Hebrews 5:9And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:15
Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under…
- Hebrews 9:12
He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
- Hebrews 9:15
Through
Deuteronomy 5:33You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:40
Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your…
- Deuteronomy 4:40
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Apostolic Constitutions, CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 6:4.22; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter II; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian, The Five Books Against Marcion, Book 4.