Jeremiah 17:23
in Jeremiah 17Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
KJV
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
⋯
This verse in Jeremiah 17
Commentary
6 notes on this verse(Verse 20 and following) Thus says the Lord: Guard your souls, and do not carry burdens on the Sabbath day, or bring them through the gates of Jerusalem. And do not cast burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and you shall not do any work, and sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, and they stiffened their necks (and what is not found in Hebrew, against their fathers), so that they would not listen to me, and would not receive discipline.
This site's exposition
Go and stand at the gate of the people
on Jeremiah 17:19-27
Jeremiah must stand at the gate the kings of Judah use and preach one commandment. The fathers heard the same command, and “they stiffened their necks”. Obedience would bring kings into a city “inhabited forever”, and disobedience “an unquenchable fire in its gates”.
This site's exposition
Yet they would not listen
Their forefathers heard this same command and stiffened their necks. Matthew Henry holds the sons could still escape the fathers' guilt and see the city win back its glory if they kept the Sabbath holy. Where the Sabbath is neglected, Henry adds, all religion goes to decay.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The people had asked ( ch. xvi. 10 ), What is our iniquity, and what is our sin? as if they could not be charged with any thing worth speaking of, for which God should enter into judgment with them; their challenge was answered there, but here we have a further reply to it, in which, I.
Where sabbaths are neglected all religion sensibly goes to decay. What blessings God had in store for them if they would make conscience of sabbath-sanctification. Though their fathers had been guilty of the profanation of the sabbath they should not only not smart for it, but their city and nation should recover its ancient glory, if they would keep sabbaths better,
But they obeyed not,....
How the passage was read
On Jeremiah 17:19-27On Jeremiah 17:19-27
Burdens through the gates
Jeremiah stands in Jerusalem's gates and warns: “bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.” The written Sabbath command says “no work”; this prophetic oracle is the clearest Scripture naming CARRYING as the work in view, and it became the root of the tradition's rule against carrying from one domain to another on the Sabbath, the last of the Mishnah's thirty-nine categories of forbidden labor (Shabbat 7:2). The categories are kept by observant Jews to this day, which is why traditional neighborhoods build an eruv, a boundary that legally merges private domains so families can carry outdoors on the day.
This passage is the live background of John 5:10: “It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.” The objectors are standing on Jeremiah's oracle as the tradition had built on it. The healed man's mat, not his healing, is what the rule could name.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Shabbat 7:2 (the thirty-nine categories; carrying is the last)
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָֽׁמְע֔וּ | shameu | they listened | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הִטּ֖וּ | hitu | they inclined | H5186 → | 214 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אָזְנָ֑ם | ʾazenam | ear their | H241 → | 187 times |
| וַיַּקְשׁוּ֙ | vaiyakshu | and they stiffened | H7185 → | 28 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עָרְפָּ֔ם | ʾarepam | neck their | H6203 → | 33 times |
| לְבִלְתִּ֣י | levilti | to not | H1115 → | 112 times |
| שְׁמ֔וֹעַ | shomea' | to listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| וּלְבִלְתִּ֖י | ulevilti | and to not | H1115 → | 112 times |
| קַ֥חַת | kachat | to accept | H3947 → | 966 times |
| מוּסָֽר׃ | musar | correction | H4148 → | 50 times |
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
שָֽׁמְע֔וּthey listened
shameuH8085 →1159 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
הִטּ֖וּthey inclined
hituH5186 →214 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אָזְנָ֑םear their
ʾazenamH241 →187 times
וַיַּקְשׁוּ֙and they stiffened
vaiyakshuH7185 →28 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עָרְפָּ֔םneck their
ʾarepamH6203 →33 times
לְבִלְתִּ֣יto not
leviltiH1115 →112 times
שְׁמ֔וֹעַto listen
shomea'H8085 →1159 times
וּלְבִלְתִּ֖יand to not
uleviltiH1115 →112 times
קַ֥חַתto accept
kachatH3947 →966 times
מוּסָֽר׃correction
musarH4148 →50 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
Acts 7:51You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
- Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
- Jeremiah 4:4
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to…
- Deuteronomy 10:16
Through
Proverbs 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
it leads to
- Proverbs 6:15
Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
- 1 Samuel 2:25
If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since…
- Proverbs 28:18
He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- Zechariah 7:11–14
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Proverbs 6:15
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and 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.