Jeremiah 2:30
in Jeremiah 2“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
KJV
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
⋯
This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 30) Without cause, I struck your sons: they did not receive discipline. For this reason, you did not receive the 70. And the sense in Hebrew is: Those who were struck did not want to receive discipline. But in the Septuagint: Therefore, I struck your sons so that you may be taught by their death. And lest you say: You did not want to correct sinners, learn from the blows inflicted upon your sons, because I desired to heal you with a more severe remedy. Your sword devoured your prophets.
This site's exposition
Why do you bring a case against Me
on Jeremiah 2:29-32
The LORD turns the plea back, “You have all rebelled against Me”, and says correction has failed, since their sons “accepted no discipline”. A maiden does not forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash, yet “My people have forgotten Me for days without number”.
This site's exposition
I have struck your sons in vain
The blows were meant as discipline, and none of them took. The killing of the prophets is usually tied to Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood at 2 Kings 21:16. Jesus names the same record at Matthew 23:37.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Some of those measures do not succeed," you say. Is a remedy, then, to be discontinued because the illness of some patients is incurable? You are looking at those who are so hardened that they are not affected by such correction. Concerning these it has been written: "In vain have I struck your children. They have not received correction."
A commentator
Ephrem the SyrianCOMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 14:26 · Written before 373.
proposed
Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree. This refers to the three captivities in which the Israelites were taken away as captives, so that they might be chastened, but they were not chastened. In vain have I smitten your …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In vain have I smitten your children,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Your own sword hath detoured your prophets - An allusion probably to Manasseh 2Ki 21:16. Death was the usual fate of the true prophet Neh 9:26; Mat 23:37.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לַשָּׁוְא֙ | lashav' | for <the> vanity | H7723 → | 53 times |
| הִכֵּ֣יתִי | hikeiti | I struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵיכֶ֔ם | beneikhem | sons your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מוּסָ֖ר | musar | correction | H4148 → | 50 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| לָקָ֑חוּ | lakachu | they accepted | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אָכְלָ֧ה | ʾakhelah | it devoured | H398 → | 810 times |
| חַרְבְּכֶ֛ם | charbekhem | sword your | H2719 → | 413 times |
| נְבִֽיאֵיכֶ֖ם | nevieikhem | prophets your | H5030 → | 314 times |
| כְּאַרְיֵ֥ה | kearyeh | like a lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| מַשְׁחִֽית׃ | mashchit | destroying | H7843 → | 146 times |
לַשָּׁוְא֙for <the> vanity
lashav'H7723 →53 times
הִכֵּ֣יתִיI struck
hikeitiH5221 →499 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵיכֶ֔םsons your
beneikhemH1121 →4930 times
מוּסָ֖רcorrection
musarH4148 →50 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
לָקָ֑חוּthey accepted
lakachuH3947 →966 times
אָכְלָ֧הit devoured
ʾakhelahH398 →810 times
חַרְבְּכֶ֛םsword your
charbekhemH2719 →413 times
נְבִֽיאֵיכֶ֖םprophets your
nevieikhemH5030 →314 times
כְּאַרְיֵ֥הlike a lion
kearyehH738 →80 times
מַשְׁחִֽית׃destroying
mashchitH7843 →146 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
1 Thessalonians 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
it leads to
- Matthew 5:12
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 11:48–53
So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
- Acts 7:52
Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
- Acts 2:23
He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
- Matthew 5:12
Through
Acts 7:52Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
it leads to
- 1 Kings 19:10
“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Chronicles 36:16
But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- 1 Kings 19:10
Through
Nehemiah 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 14:9
You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.
- 1 Kings 14:9
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); Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 93:1.3; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 14:26; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).