‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
Parallel Translations
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‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
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Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
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Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, that have eyes, and see not, that have ears, and hear not:
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 5:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house.
- Acts 28:26 saying, ‘Go to this people and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way perceive.
- Isaiah 6:9-10 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
- Romans 11:8 According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
- Matthew 13:13-15 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive: for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
- John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”
- Mark 8:18 Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
- Psalms 94:8 Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?
- Jeremiah 8:7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.
- Proverbs 17:16 Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding?
- Isaiah 44:18 They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
- Jeremiah 5:4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God.
- Deuteronomy 29:4 But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
- Deuteronomy 32:6 Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
- Isaiah 27:11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
- Hosea 7:11 “Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Declare ye then this; and what is it? Hear,…
Declare ye then this; and what is it? Hear, O foolish people, etc. Here he first reproves the Jews and Israelites for their stupidity, because they were even without common sense; for the heart in Hebrew means the mind or understanding, as we have seen elsewhere. He then says, that this people were destitute of all understanding. He first calls them fatuous or foolish; but as many are slow and heavy and yet not without common sense, he adds that they were a people without heart or understanding. He seems indeed to add by way of correction, that they had eyes and ears: but his object was ironically to enhance what he had said, and to shew that they were stupid, and no less so than blocks of wood or stones. How so? “Ye have ears and eyes, “he says, “but ye neither see nor hear.”
He no doubt alludes to the idols to which they had become devoted: for it is said in Psalm 115:8, that those who made idols were like them, as well as those who trusted in them; for it had been previously said, that idols had ears but heard not, and eyes but saw not. Jeremiah then indirectly condemns the Jews here for having become so stupid in their superstitions as to be like dead idols: for there is in an idol some likeness to man; it has various members but no understanding. So also he says, the Jews had eyes and ears and the external form of men; but they were at the same time no less stupid than if they were stones or blocks of wood. Now follows the proclamation —
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, without heart.
Hebrew, without heart.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and…
Jer 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Ver. 21. Hear now this, O foolish people.] They were strangely stupefied, and were therefore thus rippled up. Those that are in a lethargy must have a double quantity of physic to what others have.
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And without understanding.] Heb., Without a heart. Cor sapit et pulmo loguitur, &c: The heart is the symbol and seat of wisdom. See Hos 7:11. {See Trapp on "Hos 7:11"}
Which have eyes, and see not, &c.] See Isa 6:9; Isa 42:20. Which have not senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil. {Heb 5:14}
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 Without understanding, Heb. heart. They have no heart to…
Without understanding, Heb. heart. They have no heart to return, or to any thing of instruction or reformation, but are stupid and sottish, regardless of all counsel, wisdom, and common prudence. The heart is said to be the symbol, and according to Galen the seat, of wisdom; so the poet placeth it, Cor sapit, et joulmo loquitur, fel commovet iram, &c.
Which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: see Jer 6:10. They are wilfully blind, and obstinately deaf; will neither see nor hear the word, will, or works of God, of which he giveth two instances in two following verses, Jer 5:22,24, viz. in governing the sea, and appointing the seasons of the year. It may be he alludes herein to their idols, to which they were so much addicted.
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 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding,....…
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding,.... or, "heart" (a); See Gill on Jer 4:22,
which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not; like the idols they served, Psa 115:4. this is an upbraiding of them with their folly and stupidity, their want of common sense, their blindness and ignorance; notwithstanding they had the means of light and knowledge, the law, and the prophets.
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(a) "et non cor", Pagninus, Montanus; "qui non habes cor", V. L. "excors", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "cui cor non est", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And hear not - They are wilfully blind, and…
And hear not - They are wilfully blind, and obstinately deaf, will neither see, nor hear the word, will, or works of God, of which he giveth two instances in the two following verses.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 5:21. Hear this, O foolish people — Ignorant…
Jer 5:21. Hear this, O foolish people — Ignorant and imprudent, as blind to your interest as to your duty; and without understanding — Hebrew, ואין לב, and there is no heart, or without heart, stupid and regardless of all counsel, wisdom, and common sense. Which have eyes and see not, &c. — Wilfully blind, and obstinately deaf, who will neither see nor hear the word, will, or works of God; of which he gives two instances in the two following verses.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Understanding. Literally, "heart," chap. iv. 22. (Haydock)
Understanding. Literally, "heart," chap. iv. 22. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain eyes . . . ears, and--Translate, "and yet" (compare…
eyes . . . ears, and--Translate, "and yet" (compare Deu 29:4; Isa 6:9). Having powers of perception, they did not use them: still they were responsible for the exercise of them.
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 21. Hear… this — The prophet strives to impress…
21. Hear… this — The prophet strives to impress upon the people the greatness of their sin, and so of their folly. As in all cases of persistent wickedness it is such stupidity or insanity as men show who have eyes, and see not; or ears, and hear not.
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 21. understanding] mg. Heb. heart, which was considered as…
21. understanding] mg. Heb. heart, which was considered as the seat of intelligence. See Jer_24:7 (“an heart to know me”); Hos_7:11 (mg.).
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 (21) Which have eyes, and see not.—An almost verbal…
(21) Which have eyes, and see not.—An almost verbal reproduction from Isa_6:10.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Without understanding; literally, without heart. This seems at first…
Without understanding; literally, without heart. This seems at first sight inconsistent with ver. 23, where the people is described as having indeed a "heart," but one hostile to Jehovah. The explanation is that a course of deliberate sin perverts a man"s moral perceptions. The prophet first of all states the result, and then the cause. So in Eze_12:2, "Which have eyes and see not," etc.; "for they are a rebellions house."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.