Jeremiah 2:9
in Jeremiah 2Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore I will yet contend with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children’s children will I contend.
KJV
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children’s children will I plead.
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This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 9) Therefore I will still contend with you in judgment, says the Lord, and I will reason with your children. So that it may not seem that I strike with power, as if contending with equals in reason; according to what David sings and the Apostle uses: That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged (Psalm 50:6; Romans 3:4). And he testifies that he has done this many times in the past, and he demonstrates a similar stubbornness in the children of evildoers.
This site's exposition
I will contend with you again
on Jeremiah 2:9-11
The LORD brings His case, “I will bring a case against your children’s children”. The nations keep their gods, “though they are no gods at all”, while Israel alone has “exchanged their Glory for useless idols”. The nations are more constant to falsehood than Israel has been to the truth.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord,.... Either verbally, by reasoning with them, and reproving them for their ignorance, stupidity, and idolatry; or by deeds, inflicting punishment upon them; so the Targum, "therefore I will take vengeance on you, or punish you, saith the Lord:'' and with your children's children will I plead; who imitate their parents, and do the same evil things as they, which the Lord knew they would; and was particularly true of the Jews in the times of Christ, for which reason wrath came upon them to the uttermost.
): I will yet plead with you. Note, Before God punishes sinners he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When much has been said of the evil of sin, still there is more to be said; when one article of the charge is made good, there is another to be urged; when we have said a great deal, still we have yet to speak on God's behalf, Job xxxvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Plead - By his judgments, and by his prophets, as he did with their fathers, that they may be left without excuse. Children - God often visits the iniquities of the parents upon the children, when they imitate their parents.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Plead - The word used by the plaintiff setting forth his accusation in a law-court (see Job 33:13 note). With you - The present generation, who by joining in Manasseh’s apostasy have openly violated Yahweh’s covenant. The fathers made the nation what it now is, the children will receive it such as the present generation are now making it to be, and God will judge it according as the collective working of the past, the present, and the future tends to good or to evil.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
yet plead--namely, by inflicting still further judgments on you. children's children--Three manuscripts and JEROME omit "children's"; they seem to have thought it unsuitable to read "children's children," when "children" had not preceded. But it is designedly so written, to intimate that the final judgment on the nation would be suspended for many generations [HORSLEY].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I will yet plead with you - אריב arib, I will maintain my process, vindicate my own conduct, and prove the wickedness of yours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֗ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| עֹ֛ד | ʾod | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| אָרִ֥יב | ʾariv | I will contend | H7378 → | 67 times |
| אִתְּכֶ֖ם | ʾitekhem | with you | H854 → | 929 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and with | H854 → | 929 times |
| בְּנֵ֥י | benei | [the] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| בְנֵיכֶ֖ם | veneikhem | children your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָרִֽיב׃ | ʾariv | I will contend | H7378 → | 67 times |
לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
עֹ֛דagain
ʾodH5750 →490 times
אָרִ֥יבI will contend
ʾarivH7378 →67 times
אִתְּכֶ֖םwith you
ʾitekhemH854 →929 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְאֶת־and with
veetH854 →929 times
בְּנֵ֥י[the] children of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
בְנֵיכֶ֖םchildren your
veneikhemH1121 →4930 times
אָרִֽיב׃I will contend
ʾarivH7378 →67 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
Exodus 20:5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon…
- Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Joshua 24:19
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Deuteronomy 5:9
Through
Micah 6:2Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:
it leads to
- Hosea 4:1
Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God…
- Hosea 12:2
The LORD also brings a charge against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
- Hosea 4:1
Through
Hosea 2:2Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
it leads to
- Isaiah 50:1
This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for…
- Isaiah 50:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.