This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
Parallel Translations
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This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
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This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
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even this evil people, that refuse to hear My words, that walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, that it be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 13:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 9:14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.”
- Jeremiah 16:12 You have done evil more than your fathers, for behold, you each walk after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me.
- Numbers 14:11 Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
- Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
- Jeremiah 11:7-8 For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.” Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’ ”
- Jeremiah 13:7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
- Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Ephesians 4:17-19 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
- Isaiah 3:24 It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
- Jeremiah 5:23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.
- Jeremiah 7:24-28 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. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers. “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’
- Jeremiah 8:5 Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return.
- Jeremiah 11:18 Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it. Then you showed me their doings.
- Jeremiah 15:1-4 Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out! It will happen, when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.” ’ “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy. I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”
- Jeremiah 25:3-7 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.” “Yet you have not listened to me,” says Yahweh; “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
- Jeremiah 34:14-17 At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you; but your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor. You had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name; but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’ ” Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says Yahweh, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Hebrews 12:25 See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet said, according to what we observed yesterday,…
The Prophet said, according to what we observed yesterday, that the people would be like the belt which he had hidden in a hole and found putrified: but now the cause is expressed why God had resolved to treat them with so much severity. He then says that he would be an avenger, because the Jews had refused to obey his voice, and preferred their own inventions in walking after the hardness, or the wickedness of their own heart We hence see that the cause of this calamity was, that the people had rejected the teaching of the prophets. This indeed was far more grievous than if they had fallen away through mistake or ignorance, as we often see that men go miserably astray when the teaching of the truth is taken away. But when God shews the way, and prescribes what is right, when by his servants he exhorts his people, it is an inexcusable hardness if men repudiate such a kindness. But as this subject has been elsewhere largely treated, I shall only touch on it now briefly.
We see then that God threatens his people with extreme calamity, because they would not. bear to be taught by his prophets. Then he adds, that they had walked after the wickedness of their own heart, and had walked after foreign gods He in the first place complains that they had been so refractory as to prefer to obey their own impious inclinations than to be ruled by good and salutary counsels. But it was necessary to specify their crime; for had the Prophet only spoken of their hardness, they might have had their objections ready at hand; but when he said that they had walked after foreign gods, there was no longer any room for evasion. The word to walk has a reference to a way. This metaphor has indeed a relation to something else; for men are not wont to take a course without going somewhere, we must therefore have some end in view when we walk along any way. Now, there is to be understood here a contrast, that the people despised the way pointed out to them by God, and that they had preferred to follow their own errors. God was ready to guide the Jews; by his own law; but they chose rather, as I have said, to abandon themselves to their own errors, as it were designedly.
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He says, that they had walked after alien gods, that they might serve them, and prostrate themselves before them; for such is the meaning of the last verb. The Prophet no doubt repeats the same thing, for to serve is not only to obey, but also to worship. And hence is refuted that folly of the Papists, who imagine that worship (duliam) is not inconsistent with true religion; for they say that service (latriam) is due only to God, but that worship may be given to angels, to statues, or to dead men, as though God, forsooth! in condemning superstitions, did not use the word עבד obed, to serve. It hence follows that it is extremely ridiculous to devise two sorts of worship, one peculiar to God, and another common to angels as well as to men and dead idols. We now understand the import of this verse: the Prophet draws this conclusion, that the Jews would become like a useless or a putrefied belt. It afterwards follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear…
Jer 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
Ver. 10. This evil people.] Populus ille pessimus; these Poneropolitans, who are naught all over, nequitia cooperti.
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Walk in the imagination of their heart.] See Jer 9:13; Jer 11:8.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Hitherto the prophet had yielded a blind obedience to…
Hitherto the prophet had yielded a blind obedience to God, doing what he commanded him, though he possibly knew no other reason for it but because God bade him do so (which is a homage we owe unto God, though to none but him); now God expounds himself what he meant to teach the Jews by this, viz. that he did intend that they should be consumed by the people beyond the river Euphrates, as that girdle was there marred; and he also shows them that their own sins in disobeying his word, and following the imaginations of their own hearts, particularly their idolatry, was what had brought this sore judgment upon them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of…
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man,.... Being girt tight unto him:
so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah; whom he chose above all people, and caused to approach unto him, and dwell in his courts; whom he favoured with his presence, and encouraged them to follow after him, and cleave to him in faith and affection, and with full purpose of heart; so that they were a people near unto him as a man's girdle is to his loins: and the end of this was, and would have been, had they continued so,
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that they might be unto me for a people; his own people, a special and peculiar people above all others, peculiarly favoured and blessed by him, and continue so, and in the enjoyment of all good things:
and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; for a famous and renowned people, that should be to the praise and glory of God, and an honour to him, and an ornament to the profession of him; whereas they were the reverse:
but they would not hear; the words of the Lord, nor obey his voice; but served other gods, departed from the Lord, to whom they should have cleaved, and so became like this rotten girdle.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain This verse limits the application of the symbol. Only…
This verse limits the application of the symbol. Only the ungodly and the idolatrous part of the people decayed at Babylon. The religious portion was strengthened and invigorated by the exile Jer 24:5-7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain imagination--rather, "obstinacy."
imagination--rather, "obstinacy."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Good for nothing — In themselves, and to…
10. Good for nothing — In themselves, and to outward appearance, but really more fit for God’s high purposes than before. Their political existence was virtually terminated; but as instruments of preparation for the coming reign of Messiah they were still to serve an important use.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. stubbornness] See ch. Jer_3:17.
10. stubbornness] See ch. Jer_3:17.
shall even be] Heb. let it be.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Imagination.—Better, as before, stubbornness.
(10) Imagination.—Better, as before, stubbornness.
Shall even be as this girdle.—The same thought is reproduced in the imagery of the potter’s vessel in Jer_18:4. On the other hand there is a partial reversal of the sentence in Jer_24:5, where the “good figs” represent the exiles who learnt repentance from their sufferings, and the “bad” those who still remained at Jerusalem under Zedekiah.
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Which is good for nothing.—Better, profitable for nothing, the Hebrew verse being the same as in Jer_13:7.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain This evil people which refuse to hear My words.
Jer_13:10
This evil people which refuse to hear My words.
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Rejecters of Gods word
I. Sensational preaching: in what sense to be approved. The style of this teaching of Jeremiah looks sensational. He is bidden to take a fine, new linen girdle--a most important and ornamental part of an Oriental gentlemans garments--and bury it for a time near the Euphrates. Taking it up afterwards, he was to exhibit it to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, with all the marks of injury and decay upon it, as a sign and type of the decline and decay that the Lord would bring on them in Babylon, when, parted from Him to whom they had been bound as a girdle to a mans body, they should be buried under the oppression and contempt of their proud and domineering captors.
II. Rejection of the divine word.
1. Even the most highly favoured persons may reject Gods Word.
2. The transgressors in such cases prefer their own imagination to Gods revelations. Religion says to God, Thy will be done. The natural heart says, My will be done--Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?
3. The moral influence of such perverseness is bad, progressively bad. Having cast off God, the human nature cannot stand up alone. It needs a support. It must worship. So it goes after other, and of course false, gods. Every sin has three distinct effects, apart from the punishment of the future:
(1) It depraves and deteriorates the nature that sins. The brain is not broken, but strained; the marble is not fractured, but the eye of omniscience sees the flaw.
(2) It familiarises with evil and goes so far towards making an evil habit.
(3) It renders some other sin not only easier, but apparently necessary. Having done one thing, says the sinner, of course I had to do the other.
4. The effect of rejecting Gods Word is lamentable in the extreme. If the fire of Divine anger burnt up that vine which He had planted, how will it be with the common tree of the forest?
III. By whom is the word of the Lord rejected?
1. In a certain strict and literal sense every unbeliever is an infidel, i.e. he is without faith. But many are without faith who yet assent to the general truths of Gods Word. Many infidels have made it their own interest to impugn and deny Divine revelation. A man has broken its precepts--perhaps suffered socially in consequence--has not repented, but only been embittered, begins to count those who censure or condemn him first bigoted, narrow-minded, then pharisaical, and hypocritical or fanatical. They justify their action by the Scriptures, and he begins to transfer his dislike to the Scriptures, feels a pleasure in any doubt cast on them, flatters himself that to weaken them is to strengthen his case, and that contempt poured on them is respect won back for him. Hence the bitterest scoffers have often been the religiously trained sinners.
2. Sceptics are included among the rejecters of Gods Word. Not that they are necessarily irreligious, or deniers of a Divine Being and of obligation to Him; but they deny the Scriptures as an authoritative revelation from Him and make nature a sufficient teacher.
3. If I include Romanism among the rejecters of Gods Word, it must be with a qualification. That system admits the inspiration, Divine origin, and partial authority of Gods Word, and so far as it can appeal to Scripture does so. Its sins in this regard are:
(1) Putting up beside the Word tradition, which, like that of the Pharisees, makes the Word of God of no effect.
(2) Making the authorisation of the Scripture depend on the Church, and constituting the Church the only expounder of Scripture.
(3) And following from this, she withholds the Scriptures from her people.
4. The indifferent and unbelieving reject Gods Word. You have heard it explained, read it, had it urged on you by beloved ones, now praising God in the rest of the saints. Have you believed it? Received Christ? Are you resting on Him? Doing His will? For if not, your condemnation is doubly sure. (John Hall, D. D.)
Gods girdle
I. Israel and Judah clave unto Jehovah as a girdle to the loins of a man.
1. Unto His person for favour.
2. Unto His Word for direction and teaching.
3. Unto His promise for encouragement.
4. Unto His worship for devotion.
II. Israel and Judah were then a praise and glory to Jehovah. A girdle of strength and honour before the nations.
1. As opposed to the idolatries of the world.
2. As expressing obedience to Divine law.
3. As exhibiting the beneficial effects of true religion.
III. Israel and Judah became faithless and disobedient.
1. An evil people refusing to hear the Word.
2. A stubborn people going their own way.
3. A deluded people in vain imaginations.
4. An idolatrous people, like the nations less favoured, going after other gods to serve and worship them.
IV. Israel and Judah becoming faithless, became also weak and worthless. Went from prominence to obscurity, from freedom to captivity, from privilege to punishment. (W. Whale.)
Cleaving unto God
In Trinidad there are small oysters to be found that grow upon trees, or rather cluster round the roots of trees, in the river mouths. The little bivalves are so firmly attached that it is usual to saw down the trees in order to obtain the oysters, and such an attachment is typical of the ideal life of a Christian. He should love the Lord his God, and obey His voice, that he may cleave unto Him. God, who is the source of all life, will indeed be his life and the light of his days. As the strength of the tree is placed at the disposal of the oyster, so is the omnipotence of God offered to all who will trust Him. (Christian Commonwealth.)
Which is good for nothing.
Good for nothing
I. Dwell upon a painful fact. All was done for them that could be, and yet good for nothing.
II. Point out the cause of their sad condition.
1. They refused to hear the Word of the Lord.
2. They followed the imagination of their hearts.
3. They became idolaters.
III. Show what they might have been as a people.
1. Separated from the nations as peculiarly the people of God.
2. Before the nations for the glory of Jehovah, as opposed to idols.
3. Among the nations as witnesses and examples.
IV. Proclaim some universal truths.
1. Refusing to hear Gods Word is proof that the people are all evil people.
2. An evil people will substitute a false worship for that which is true.
3. A false worship will produce and foster an erroneous religious life.
4. A people walking according to the imagination of their own hearts must be useless to themselves, to the world, to the Church, or to God. (W. Whale.)
The unprofitableness of a sinful life
I heard the other day a Sunday school address which pleased me much. The teacher, speaking to the boys, said, Boys, here is a watch; what is it for? To tell the time. Well, said he, suppose my watch does not tell the time, what is it good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then he took out a pencil. What is this pencil for? It is to write with, sir. Suppose this pencil wont make a mark, what is it good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then he took out a pocket knife. Boys, what is this for? They were American boys, so they shouted, To whittle with,--that is, to experiment on any substance that came in their way, by cutting a notch in it. But, said he, suppose it will not cut, what is the knife good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then the teacher said, What is the chief end of man? and they replied, To glorify God. But suppose a man does not glorify God, what is he good for? Good for nothing, sir. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 13:10-11 The rotten loincloth represented the people of Judah…
13:10-11 The rotten loincloth represented the people of Judah and Israel, whose wicked rebellion had corrupted them and made them worthless. • clings: The same Hebrew word can be translated “joins” and is used to describe marital faithfulness (Gen 2:24). • my people . . . an honor to my name: See also Exod 19:5, 6; Deut 32:10-12; Eph 2:7; 3:10.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.