Jeremiah 7:24

Obedience

²² For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

²³ but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

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.

²⁵ From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.

²⁶ Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
WEB: But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
ASV: But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels [and] in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
DARBY: But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
BLB: And they did not listen, and they did not incline their ear, and they walked in the counsels in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they went backward and not forward.

ÅB: Men de hørte ikke og bøyde ikke sitt øre til meg, de fulgte sine egne tanker, sitt onde, hårde hjerte, og de vendte ryggen, ikke ansiktet til meg.
OTB: Men de lyttet ikke eller bøyde sitt øre, men fulgte de sta tilbøyelighetene i deres onde hjerter. De gikk bakover og ikke fremover.
B1930: Men de hørte ikke og bøide ikke sitt øre til mig, de fulgte sine egne tanker, sitt onde, hårde hjerte, og de vendte ryggen, ikke ansiktet til mig.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Psalms 81:11–12
But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 29:19
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
Read in context
Jeremiah 7:26
Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
Read in context
Jeremiah 8:5
Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
Read in context
Jeremiah 32:33
They 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.
Read in context
Ezekiel 20:13
Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
Read in context
Ezekiel 20:8
But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.
Read in context
Jeremiah 3:17
At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
Read in context