Jeremiah 6:8
in Jeremiah 6Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
KJV
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
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This verse in Jeremiah 6
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Verse 8) Iniquity and devastation will be heard in it before me always, weakness and affliction. Learn, Jerusalem, lest my soul may depart from you, lest I make you deserted, an uninhabitable land. LXX: Impiety and misery will be heard in it before its face. Through every pain and scourge you will be taught, Jerusalem, lest my soul may depart from you: lest I make you an impassable land, a land that is not inhabited. Through these things we learn that the Lord chastises every son whom he receives.
This site's exposition
raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem
on Jeremiah 6:6-8
The LORD himself orders the siege, “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem”. The figure “As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil” makes wickedness Jerusalem's continual output. The last appeal, “Be forewarned, O Jerusalem”, comes before the desolation.
This site's exposition
Be forewarned, O Jerusalem
Wesley notes the Hebrew for turn away means to be disjointed, like a limb torn, a picture of the grief the LORD feels in withdrawing. The LORD would still spare them. Jerome reads the warning as the chastening the LORD gives every son he receives.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Behold the mercy and piety of the good God. When he wishes to be merciful, he says that he is displeased and angry. As he says through Jeremiah, "You will be chastised, Jerusalem, with pain and a scourge, lest my soul depart from you." If you understand these words, it is the voice of God having compassion when he is angry, when he is jealous, when he brings pains and beatings. "For he scourges every one whom he receives."
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 18 · Written before 444.
proposed
It was that thou mayest learn that God silently and noiselessly observes the affairs of men, and watches the course of each one's life; and so it is written, "The paths of a man are before the eyes of God; and He looks at all his tracks." And as He is good, and willeth that all men should be saved, He often purifies those who are entangled in sins by inflicting sickness upon their body. For so He somewhere says by the voice of Jeremiah, "Thou shalt be taught, O Jerusalem, by labour and the scourge." And the writer of the book of Proverbs also has somewhere said, "My son, despise not thou the teaching of the Lord, nor faint when thou art convicted by Him, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He accepteth." Well, therefore, does Christ announce that He will cut away the cause of the disease, and the very root, as it were, of the malady, even sin: for if this be removed, necessarily must the disease which sprung from it be also at the same time taken away.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Oppression - There are found in her all kinds of oppression and injustice. Be thou instructed - I would yet willingly spare them if it might be. Depart - Hebrew. be disjointed, a most emphatical metaphor, whereby God would express how great grief it is to him to withdraw himself from them, even like the separating one limb from another.
7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. 8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Judgment threatened against Judah and Jerusalem.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v6-8
And be thou instructed, O Jerusalem,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This intimates what a tender affection and concern God had had for them; his very soul had been joined to them, and nothing but sin could disjoin it. The God of mercy is loth to depart even from a provoking people, and is earnest with them by true repentance and reformation to prevent things coming to that extremity.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Tender appeal in the midst of threats. depart--Hebrew, "be torn away"; Jehovah's affection making Him unwilling to depart; His attachment to Jerusalem was such that an effort was needed to tear Himself from it (Eze 23:18;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Be thou instructed - Still there is respite: if they would even now return unto the Lord with all their heart, the advancing Chaldeans would be arrested on their march and turned back.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Be thou instructed - Be thou chastised: learn the lesson which chastisement is intended to teach thee. Lest my soul - Lest I Myself - not “depart from thee,” God does not willingly leave His people, but - “be torn from thee.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִוָּסְרִי֙ | hivaseri | let yourself be instructed | H3256 → | 43 times |
| יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם | yerushalim | O Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| תֵּקַ֥ע | teka' | it should be alienated | H3363 → | |
| נַפְשִׁ֖י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| מִמֵּ֑ךְ | mimekh | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| אֲשִׂימֵ֣ךְ | ʾasimekh | I should make you | H7760 → | 584 times |
| שְׁמָמָ֔ה | shemamah | a desolation | H8077 → | 57 times |
| אֶ֖רֶץ | ʾeretz | a land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| ל֥וֹא | lo' | [which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נוֹשָֽׁבָה׃ פ | noshavah | it is inhabited | H3427 → | 1079 times |
הִוָּסְרִי֙let yourself be instructed
hivaseriH3256 →43 times
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םO Jerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
תֵּקַ֥עit should be alienated
teka'H3363 →
נַפְשִׁ֖יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
מִמֵּ֑ךְfrom you
mimekhH4480 →1188 times
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
אֲשִׂימֵ֣ךְI should make you
ʾasimekhH7760 →584 times
שְׁמָמָ֔הa desolation
shemamahH8077 →57 times
אֶ֖רֶץa land
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
ל֥וֹא[which] not
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נוֹשָֽׁבָה׃ פit is inhabited
noshavahH3427 →1079 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
Jeremiah 17:23Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.
it leads to
- Proverbs 29:1
A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
- Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Jeremiah 7:24–26
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Proverbs 29:1
Through
Hosea 9:12Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!
it leads to
- Hosea 7:13
Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against Me.
- Hosea 7:13
Through
Zephaniah 3:7I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me and accept correction.’ Then her dwelling place would not be cut off despite all for which I punished her. But they rose early to corrupt all their…
it leads to
- Hosea 9:9
They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- Hosea 9:9
Through
Jeremiah 32:33They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:13
And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but…
- Jeremiah 2:27
say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble…
- Jeremiah 7:13
Through
Ezekiel 23:18When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 12:8
My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her.
- Jeremiah 12:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 18; 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; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EXODUS 8:5.