Jeremiah 4:3 BSB — MannaFest

Jeremiah 4:3

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

KJV

For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

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Commentary

2 voices

Athanasius of Alexandria

296–373

FESTAL LETTERS 3:3 (373)

The departure from virtue gives place for the entrance of the unclean spirit. There is, moreover, the apostolic injunction, that the grace given us should not be unprofitable. Those things that he wrote particularly to his disciple, he enforces on us through him, saying, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you. For he who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread. But the paths of the slothful are strewn with thorns." The Spirit warns ahead of time not to fall into them, saying, "Break up your fallow ground. Do not sow among thorns."

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

To the men - To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually to repentance. Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i. e., do not sow the seeds of repentance in unfit soil, but just as the farmer prepares the ground, by clearing it of weeds, and exposing it to the sun and air, before entrusting to it the seed, so must you regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought, and anxious labor. To sow in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
כִּי־	ki-	for	H3588 →
כֹ֣ה׀	khoh	thus	H3541 →
אָמַ֣ר	'a.Mar	he says	H559 →
יְהֹוָ֗ה	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →
לְאִ֤ישׁ	le.'Ish	to [the] man of	H376 →
יְהוּדָה֙	ye.hu.Dah	Judah	H3063 →
וְלִיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם	ve.li.Ru.sha.Lim	and to Jerusalem	H3389 →
נִ֥ירוּ	Ni.ru	plow	H5214 →
לָכֶ֖ם	la.Khem	of you
נִ֑יר	Nir	unplowed ground	H5215 →
וְאַֽל־	ve.'al-	and may not	H408 →
תִּזְרְע֖וּ	tiz.re.'U	you sow	H2232 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
קוֹצִֽים׃	ko.Tzim	thorns	H6975 →

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

H2232tizreuyou sow56×

The walk

The walk8

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
Hosea 10:12
Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
leads to
- Jeremiah 4:3–4
  For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.
- James 3:18
  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.
- Isaiah 45:8
  Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.
- Proverbs 11:18
  The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.
- Isaiah 55:6
  Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Through
Luke 8:14
The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does…
leads to
- 1 John 2:15–17
  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 1 Timothy 6:9–10
  Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- 1 Timothy 6:17
  Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us…

Featured studies on this passage

Walks through Jeremiah 4

Circumcision of the Heart

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About Jeremiah

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

Jeremiah: the study guide →Read chapter 4 →The featured study →

Continue: Jeremiah 4 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Jeremiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Jeremiah