Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations?
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Jeremiah 7:8-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’ For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations?
-
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Show all 3 translations
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Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known,
and come and stand before Me in this house, whereupon My name is called, and say: 'We are delivered', that ye may do all these abominations?
Cross-references (63)
- Jeremiah 32:34 (v10) But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
- Exodus 20:3 (v9) “You shall have no other gods before me.
- Jeremiah 7:6 (v9) if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other…
- Isaiah 28:15 (v8) “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes…
- Jeremiah 11:13 (v9) For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up…
Show all 63 cross-references
- Jeremiah 11:17 (v9) For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of…
- Ezekiel 23:37 (v10) For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their…
- Ezekiel 23:39 (v10) For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have…
- James 4:1-4 (v9) Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? You lust, and don’t have.…
- 1 Kings 18:21 (v9) Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal,…
- Jeremiah 7:11 (v10) Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 7:14 (v10) therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers,…
- Jeremiah 7:30 (v10) “For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is…
- Jeremiah 34:15 (v10) 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…
- Romans 2:2 (v9) We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
- Galatians 5:19-21 (v9) Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,…
- Revelation 22:15 (v9) Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Deuteronomy 32:17 (v9) They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.
- Judges 5:8 (v9) They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
- 2 Kings 21:4 (v10) He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”
- 2 Chronicles 33:4 (v10) He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
- 2 Chronicles 33:7 (v10) He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s house, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this…
- Psalms 50:16-21 (v9) But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate…
- Proverbs 7:14-15 (v10) “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and…
- Isaiah 1:10-15 (v10) Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What are the multitude of your sacrifices…
- Isaiah 30:10 (v8) who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.
- Isaiah 48:2 (v10) for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name.
- Isaiah 58:2-4 (v10) Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,…
- Isaiah 59:1-8 (v9) Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. But your iniquities have separated you…
- Jeremiah 4:10 (v8) Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword…
- Jeremiah 5:31 (v8) The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end…
- Jeremiah 7:4 (v8) Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’
- Jeremiah 8:10 (v8) Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the…
- Jeremiah 9:2-9 (v9) Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all…
- Jeremiah 13:10 (v9) 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,…
- Jeremiah 14:13-14 (v8) Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give…
- Jeremiah 23:14-16 (v8) In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of…
- Jeremiah 23:26 (v8) How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
- Jeremiah 23:32 (v8) Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their…
- Jeremiah 32:29 (v9) The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have…
- Jeremiah 44:3 (v9) because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that…
- Ezekiel 13:6-16 (v8) They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the…
- Ezekiel 18:10-13 (v9) “If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things, or who does not do any of those things, but…
- Ezekiel 18:18 (v9) As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die…
- Ezekiel 20:39 (v10) “ ‘As for you, house of Israel, the Lord Yahweh says: “Go, everyone serve his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me; but…
- Ezekiel 23:29 (v10) They will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labor, and will leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution…
- Ezekiel 33:25-26 (v9) Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you…
- Hosea 4:1-3 (v9) Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor…
- Micah 3:8-12 (v9) But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel…
- Zephaniah 1:5 (v9) those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
- Zechariah 5:3-4 (v9) Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according…
- Malachi 3:5 (v9) I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the…
- Matthew 23:13 (v10) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will…
- John 13:18 (v10) I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has…
- John 13:26-27 (v10) Jesus therefore answered, “It is he to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the piece of…
- John 18:28 (v10) They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they…
- Romans 2:17-29 (v9) Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God, know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being…
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (v9) Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor…
- Ephesians 5:5-7 (v9) Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the…
- 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (v9) For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without…
- Revelation 21:8 (v9) But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in…
- Proverbs 15:8 (v10) The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Ezekiel 33:31 (v10) They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8–10 He again teaches what we observed yesterday, — that…
He again teaches what we observed yesterday, — that the glorying of the Jews was foolish, while they boasted of the Temple and of their sacrifices to God. He calls their boastings the words of falsehood, as we have explained, because they wholly turned to a contrary end what God had instituted. It was his will that sacrifices should be offered to him in the Temple — to what purpose? To preserve unity of faith among the whole people. And sacrifices, what was their design? To shew the people that they deserved eternal death, and also that they were to flee to God for mercy, there being no other expiation but the blood of Christ. But there was no repentance, they were not sorry for their sins; nay, as we shall presently see, they took liberty to indulge more in them on account of their ceremonies, which yet ought to have been the means of leading them to repentance. They were then the words of falsehood when they separated the signs from their ends. The reality and the sign ought indeed to be distinguished the one from the other; but it is an intolerable divorce, when men lay hold on naked signs and overlook the reality. There was in the sacrifices the reality which I have now mentioned: they were reminded by the spectacle that they were worthy of eternal death; and then, they were to exercise penitence, and thus to flee to God’s mercy. As there was no account made of Christ, no care for repentance, no sorrow for sins, no fear of God, no humility, it was an impious separation of what ought to have been united.
We now then more clearly see why the Prophet designates as words of falsehood, that false glorying in which hypocrites indulge, in opposition to God, when they would have him satisfied with naked ceremonies. Hence he adds, that they were words that could not profit, as though he had said, “As ye seek to trifle with God, so he will also frustrate your design.” It is indeed certain that they dealt dishonestly with God, when they attempted to satisfy his judgment by frigid ceremonies. He therefore shews that a reward was prepared for them; for they would at length find, that no fruit would come from their false dealings. It 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 On vv8–10 Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that…
Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Ver. 8. Behold, ye trust, &c.] See on Jer 7:4.
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 On vv8–10 Behold; take notice of it, and think of it…
Behold; take notice of it, and think of it seriously.
Ye trust in lying words; either flattering yourselves with your own conceits, whereby, in your discourses, you strengthen one another; or depending upon the delusions of your false prophets, Jer 5:31; 23:26,27; or rather, bolstering yourselves up upon your privileges or bare ceremonies, which you so much boast of, as Jer 7:4; all which he tells them will profit them nothing.
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 On vv8–10 Behold, ye trust in lying words,.... What they are…
Behold, ye trust in lying words,.... What they are dissuaded from, Jer 7:4, is here affirmed they did, and which is introduced with a note of asseveration, attention, and admiration; it being a certain thing that they did so; and was what was worthy of their consideration and serious reflection upon; and it was astonishing that they should, since so to do was of no advantage to them, but the contrary:
that cannot profit; temple worship and service, legal sacrifices and ceremonies, could not take away sin, and expiate the guilt of it; or justify men, and render them acceptable to God; these, without faith in the blood and sacrifice of Christ, were of no avail; and especially could never be thought to be of any use and profit, when such gross abominations were indulged by them as are next mentioned.
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 On vv9–10 Will ye steal - Can you think that this…
Will ye steal - Can you think that this can be grateful to me, or advantageous to yourselves, to frequent my house, and yet retain these odious sins. Whom - Such as they had set up new, and never had any experience of, and therefore could have no reason to serve them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v9 Verse 9. Will ye steal, murder] Will you continue…
Verse 9. Will ye steal, murder] Will you continue to commit such abominations, and pretend to worship me; and thus defile the place that is called by my name; and so make my house a den of robbers? I have seen this,-and can you expect to escape condign punishment? Ye shall not escape.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v8 Jer 7:8-11. Behold, ye trust in lying words —…
Jer 7:8-11. Behold, ye trust in lying words — Uttered by your false prophets, who promise you peace, and sooth you up in your impenitence. Will ye steal, murder, &c. — Jeremiah does not charge them with the transgression of the ritual law of Moses, but with the breach of the weightier matters of the moral law. Thus the prophets showed the Jews a more excellent way of serving God than by relying upon external ceremonies of their worship, which might have prepared their minds for the reception of the gospel. And come and stand before me, &c. — Will ye be guilty of the vilest immoralities, even such as the common interest, as well as the common sense, of mankind must reprobate? Will ye swear falsely? — A crime which all nations have always held in abhorrence? Will ye burn incense to Baal? — A dunghill deity, that sets up as a rival with the great Jehovah; and, not content with that, will you walk after other gods too, whom ye know not — And by all these crimes put a daring affront upon the Lord of hosts? Will you exchange a God, of whose power and goodness you have had such long experience, for gods of whose ability and willingness to help you know nothing? And when you have thus done the most you can to affront and insult the infinite and eternal Jehovah, your creator and preserver, your governor and judge, will you have the effrontery and impudence to come and stand before him in this house, which is called by his name, and in which his name is called upon, under a pretence of worshipping and serving him — stand before him as servants, waiting his commands, as suppliants, expecting his favour? Will you act in open rebellion against him, and yet rank yourselves among his subjects, among the best of them? By this it would seem you think that either he doth not discover, or doth not dislike your wicked practices; to imagine either of which is to put the highest indignity possible upon him. It is as if you should say, We are delivered to do all these abominations — If they had not the face to say this in so many words, yet their actions spoke it aloud. God had many times delivered them, as they could not but acknowledge, and had been a present help to them when otherwise they must have perished. By these means he designed to bring them to himself; by his goodness to lead them to repentance; but they, resolving notwithstanding to persist in their abominations, said, in effect, in direct contradiction to God’s true intent, in showing them this kindness, that he had delivered them to put them again into a capacity of rebelling against him. Will ye, says the prophet, interpret the deliverances God hath formerly vouchsafed you, as so many licenses to commit new crimes? Or, do you think, when you offer your propitiatory sacrifices, that they will wipe away the guilt of all your past offences, and that you may securely return to your former wicked practices, having such a certain and easy method of obtaining pardon? Is this house, &c., become a den of robbers in your eyes? — Do you think it was built, not only to be a rendezvous of, but a place of shelter to, the vilest malefactors; who perform an outward service to me there, that they may continue the more securely in their sins? Mark well, reader, those that think to excuse themselves in unchristian practices, with the Christian name, and sin the more boldly and securely, because there is a sin-offering provided, do in effect make God’s house of prayer a den of thieves; as the priests did in Christ’s time, Mat 21:13. But could they thus impose upon God? no, Behold, I have seen it, saith the Lord — Have seen the real iniquity through the counterfeit and dissembled piety. Though men may deceive one another with the show of devotion, yet they cannot deceive God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v10 We are delivered - Jeremiah accuses them of trusting…
We are delivered - Jeremiah accuses them of trusting in the ceremonial of the temple instead of leading holy lives. “You break,” he says, “the Ten Commandments, and then you go to the Temple; and when the service is over you say, We are delivered. We have atoned for our past actions, and may start afresh with easy minds upon a new course of wickedness.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Not, which have done you no good, and deserve…
Not, which have done you no good, and deserve not to be styled gods. (Calmet)
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 On vv8–10 that cannot profit--MAURER translates, "so that you profit nothing"…
that cannot profit--MAURER translates, "so that you profit nothing" (see Jer 7:4; Jer 5:31).
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 On v9 9, 10. Will ye steal… and burn incense unto…
9, 10. Will ye steal… and burn incense unto Baal — The precise thought of this notable passage is obscured, if not, indeed, materially changed, in the Authorized Version. It is not the plea of the fatalist, but of the ritualist, which is here reproved. Their sin and blasphemy consisted in setting religious services over against the grossest immoralities in their lives, so that, though doing all these abominations, they claimed to be delivered — that, is, freed from all the consequences — by coming and standing before God in his house. It was not the first instance — and, alas! not the last — in which the “worship of the body” has been supposed to atone for the sins of the soul.
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 On vv8–10 8. that cannot profit] Or perhaps, so that ye…
8. that cannot profit] Or perhaps, so that ye profit not.
8–11. See introd. note on the section.
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 On vv8–10 (8) Lying words.—With special reference to those already cited…
(8) Lying words.—With special reference to those already cited in Jer_7:4.
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 On vv8–10 Vers. 8-15. The formalism of Jewish religion exposed. The…
Vers. 8-15. The formalism of Jewish religion exposed. The lesson of Shiloh.
Lying words; such as those quoted in ver. 4.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear…
Jer_7:9-10
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely . . . and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Read full note →
Fate
It is my fate, is the excuse for many a career of shame and sin. I do not think that most persons who practically rest satisfied with this explanation of the evil of their lives put it actually into words. They are content with a vague undefined feeling that some excuse or explanation of the sort is possible. Perhaps we should all escape many perils and evils if we more frequently took care to formulate our undefined thoughts into language, and carefully examine their nature.
1. Our idea of Gods dealings with us is very largely influenced by the condition of the age in which we live. The language of inspiration will be interpreted by us according to the meaning which, in other directions, we already attach to the words which it must employ; and thus the government of communities by laws has so modified our thought of the Divine government that we no longer have the rude conception of a Divine Ruler acting from caprice; we have now rather the idea of a Being who acts through the operation of great universal laws. That conception of God is so far true, and that interpretation of the words of revelation so far accurate; but there has grown up with it the thought that God acts only thus, which is false. We attribute to the action of the All-wise God the imperfections--the necessary imperfections which belong to human institutions. Now, we must not transfer to God our own finality and failure. Gods laws are universal and general; Gods dealings with men are particular and individual As, in the physical world, we find that equilibrium is produced by the action of two equal and opposite forces, so in the moral world we have universal irresistible laws, and we have tender loving individualisation, and the resultant of the two is Gods calm and equable government of men. Everywhere we see man demanding, and by his conduct showing that he possesses that liberty of action and power of control in the material world which, to palliate his sin, he denies to belong to him in the moral world. You know that the application of heat to certain substances will generate a powerful destructive force. You know such to be a physical law, and what do you do? Do you sit down and say, It is a law of nature, and I cannot resist it? No. You say, I find it to be a law, and I shall take care either that it shall not come into operation, or if it does come into operation, I shall construct machinery to direct its force, and so make it operate only in the direction which I choose. You ascertain certain laws of health, that infection will spread a certain disease, and do you say, The disease must spread, I cannot fight against a law? No. You take care to keep the infection away from you, to disinfect, and so prevent the operation of that law; and yet that same man when he finds that there are places which will taint his moral nature with disease, that there are scenes or pleasures which will generate in his soul a destructive force, says, I cannot help it, these things will act so; I have no liberty. You have no liberty to prevent their acting so on you, I admit, no more than you have power to prevent fire igniting powder; but you have power to keep away from them; you have power to prevent those conditions arising under which alone the law will operate. Oh! when we know and feel the evil in the physical world, we take every precaution against its recurrence. How much less zeal and determination do we display concerning our souls!
2. To say that you have a peculiar kind of nature which cannot resist a particular class of sin is to offer to God an excuse which you would never accept from your fellow man. You treat every one of your fellow men as having power to resist the inclination of his natural disposition, so far as its indulgence would be injurious to you. If a man rob you or assault you, no explanation of a natural desire for acquisition or for aggression would be listened to by you as a reasonable excuse. To admit the truth of such principles of uncontrollable natural impulse would at once shake society and destroy all human government. And do you think that such excuses as you would not admit are to be accepted as excuses for, or even explanations of those sins which do not happen to fall within the category of legal crimes, but which, much more than those crimes for which the law imprisons and hangs, are destroying the moral order of Gods universe, and outraging the highest and noblest principles of truth, and purity, and love? But it cannot be denied that we have strong natural dispositions and passions which we have been given independently of ourselves, and for the possession of which we cannot with justice be held responsible? Certainly--and you never find fault with a man for any faculty or temper which he may have--but you do hold him responsible for the direction and control of it. We can point to countless noble careers to show how the strong impulses of individual natures are indeed irresistible, but their action is controllable. The great heroes whom we justly reverence, who rise above us as some snow-capped mountain towers above the dead level of a low-lying plain, are not those who have destroyed, but those who have preserved and used aright the natural impulses and passions which had been given them. That is the true meaning of such lives as those of St. Paul, or Martin Luther--St. Augustine, or John Bunyan. Ay, and there are many still amongst us who use their natural dispositions and their natural affections, their natural passions--even their natural beauty, which might have been used to lure souls to hell--to win many a one to a nobler and purer life. What a solemn responsibility, then, is the right use of our natural disposition and talents, for others as well as for ourselves. To you, my young friends, especially, I would say, Do try and begin early to recognise the solemnity of life. Do not be downhearted or dismayed if, after you have felt the power of Christs death, and when you would do good, evil is present with you. Do not let such moments harden you. Try and realise then all the love and mercy and tenderness with which the crucified Lord looks upon you, as He once looked on the fallen apostle, and, like him, go forth and weep bitterly. Then it will be well with you. Sin shall not reign in you, though for the moment it seems to have conquered you. (T. T. Shore, M. A.)
On necessity
I. Men are very fond of ascribing their sins to the temptations of the devil, and in such a way as, in the main, to put the responsibility upon him. It is surely taught in the Word of God that evil spirits do foment wickedness; that they suggest it; that they persuade men to it. It is not taught that they infuse it, and perform it in men. It is taught that Satan persuades men to sin; but the men do the sinning--not he. The power of temptation depends upon two elements: first, the power of presenting inducement or motive on the part of the tempter; and, secondly and mainly, the strength in the victim of the passion to which this motive is presented. No one could tempt to pride a man that had not already a powerful tendency to pride. The chord must be there before the hand of the harper can bring out the tone. No one could be tempted to avarice that had not a predisposition to the love of property. No man could be tempted to hatred, or to cruelty, or to appetites, one or many, unless there pre-existed a tendency in that direction. Hence, the simple fact of temptation is, that you do wrong, while Satan merely asks you to do it. It is your act. It may be his suggestion, it may be his thought; but it is your performance. And you do it with plenary freedom, urged, fevered, it may be, by him.
II. Men relieve themselves, or seek to do so, from the sense of guilt and responsibility, by attributing their sins to their fellow men. They admit the wrong, but they put in the plea that the circumstances were such that they could not help committing it. The example and impunity of other men in transgression are pleaded, the persuasions and influences of other men are pleaded, certain relations to other men are pleaded, as if these things were compulsory. Men attribute their sins to public sentiment, to the customs of the times, to the habits of the community. Are they intemperate? Intemperance is customary in the circle in which they walk. Are they unscrupulous in their dealings? Unscrupulousness is the law of the profession which they follow. And when they have been charged with continuous sinning--with the violation of conscience, with the violation of purity, with the violation of temperance, with the violation of honesty or honour--they have still pleaded, Yes, we have sinned; but we are not exceptional; we do not stand alone; we are nouns of multitude; all men do these things--as if the inference was, Because all men do them, they are not so culpable in us. Men may sin by wholesale; but they are punished by retail. There were never such dividends in any bank on earth as are apportioned in the court of conscience. There every man not only is particeps criminis in the transgression which he joins others in committing, but he is responsible for the whole sin, though thousands and millions participate with him in it. It is an exceedingly fashionable habit at present to put upon society the guilt of the transgressions of men. Are men idle, and is there deduced from idleness the accustomed fruit? Society has not made the suitable provisions for these men, or they would not have been idle! Are men insubordinate, and do they violate the laws? Society has not made proper laws for such men! They have not by society been rightly educated, or they would not have been insubordinate! Are men full of vices and crimes that spring from fertile ignorance? Society, as a schoolmaster, ought not to have let them be ignorant! Do men murder? Society is to blame! Do men steal? Society is the responsible scapegoat for thieves! You shall find philosophers on every side that wag their heads and say, Now you see that society does not fulfil its duties and functions: society ought to have stepped these things. I will admit that in society there are many things that men ought to do which are left undone, and many things that they ought to leave undone which are done; but to say that upon society is to be put the responsibilities of the individual characters of all its citizens, is to imply that you give to society power to enforce those responsibilities; and if you give to society that power, you give it a power such as was never contemplated even by the extremest despotic theory of government. Society may in some instances be the tempter, and may in some instances have its individual part in the wrong-doing of its citizens; but it does not take away from any man that does wrong, the whole, undivided, personal responsibility of that wrong.
III. The last class of the category of excuses is that of fatality. We are delivered to commit sin; we are bound over to do it; we cannot help doing it--so say some men. On the one hand, men are apt to be jealous of their liberty; but to avoid responsibility for transgression they disclaim their liberties, and plead a want of power to choose; a want of power to do that which they have chosen; or a want of power to reject that which they have determined to reject.
1. One class of men regard thought and volition as the inevitable effect of natural causes. They are no more avoidable, they say, than are the phenomena of nature. Effect follows cause as irresistibly in the one case as in the other. And so man is just as helpless as a mill wheel, which is made to turn over, and over, and over, by a power that is not under its control. Against this theory, we oppose the universal consciousness of men in the earlier stages of their moral character. Men know perfectly well that they have no plenary liberty; that they have only limited liberty. It is certainly true that, if blue is presented to my eye, I cannot prevent the impression of blue being made on my mind. It is true that, if light is presented to my eye, I cannot prevent the inevitable effect that light produces. But if, for any reason I prefer not to have light, although when it shines I cannot hinder the happening of its actual effects, I can prevent my eyes from coming where the light falls. There is profound Divine wisdom in that part of the Lords Prayer which seems strange to our youth--Lead us not into temptation. Well might powder pray, Deliver me from the fire; for if the fire touches it, there is no help for it--there must be an explosion. And there are many circumstances in which, if inflamed passions, inflamed tempers, in the souls warfare in life, subject themselves to certain causes, they will lead a man to sin. Therefore the plea is, Lead me not into temptation: let it not come upon me. Men are responsible for their volitions, and for those conditions which produce volitions--and this is the opinion of men generally.
2. A more frequent and more subtle plea of irresponsibility is founded on the modern doctrine of organisation. One man says, I may lie; but I was delivered to do it when I was created with such an inordinate development of secretiveness. Another man says, I may be harsh and cruel; but I was delivered to be so from my mothers womb; there is such immense destructiveness in my organisation. Another man says, You that have largo intellectual developments, and are able to see and foresee, may be responsible for falling into sin; but I have no such development; I cannot foresee anything; I have to take things as they find me, and I am not responsible. At first it would look as though this was very rational; but it is not. It is not phrenological. It is not philosophical. And that is not all; the men that use these pleas do not themselves believe in them. There are abundant proofs of the falsity of the claim which they set up; but for my present purpose it is quite sufficient to say that, when men sin and plead fatalism or organisation as a justification of their wrong-doing, they do not believe the doctrine that they themselves advance. No man will accept an insult from another on the plea that that other man cannot help giving it. If a man deals you a blow in the street, not accidentally, but because, as he says, he is naturally irritable, having large combativeness, and cannot help it, you do not listen calmly to the explanation, and say, All right, sir; all right. No man admits for one single moment any such thing as that men are to be excused for all sorts of misdemeanours, because they happen to be peculiarly organised. The whole intercourse of man with man would be destroyed; the community would be dissolved; society would rush, like turbulent streams in the midst of spring rains, down to destruction, if you were to take away the doctrine that a man can control his conduct, his thought, his will. It does not follow that, because a man follows his strongest faculty, he must follow it to do wrong with it. Here is the fallacy--or one of the fallacies--which men run into. If a man has large secretiveness, it does not follow that he should lie. A man may be secretive, and not transgress. Secretiveness may leaven every faculty of the mind, and that without making one of them commit sin. It has a broad sphere, and a wholesome sphere; and if you say, I must follow my strongest faculty, I reply that it does not follow that you must follow it contrary to moral law--contrary to what is right. Then another thing to be considered is the determining influence. A man is either sane or insane; and the distinction is this: If a man can no longer control his action by the antagonism of faculties; if, for instance, by the antagonism of reason and the affections he cannot control the passions; if the antagonism among themselves of the balanced faculties is so weak that the individual is incapable of governing himself, then he is insane. But if a man is not insane, there is in him a power proceeding from the balance of faculties, by which the erring one or ones may be controlled. So that every man, up to the point of insanity, has latent in him, if he pleases to educate it and exercise it, the power of controlling by other forces in his mind those which incline him to go wrong. Well, now, if there be this antagonistic power, it becomes a question of dynamics. Men say, I have such a powerful tendency to go wrong that you ought not to punish me. It is not to punish you, so much as it is to stimulate the dormant faculty from whose inactivity that tendency proceeds, that you are made to suffer. If when my child is convicted of wrong, he having been tempted by vanity to break down into lies, I severely chastise him, and put him to shame, I inflict pain upon him not only as a punishment, but as a restorative. For I say to myself, if that childs conscience is so feeble, I must give him some stimulus. If his fear is so influential in the wrong way, I must spring it in the other direction. In other words, just the opposite of the popular pleading is true. The weaker the child is to resist evil, the more powerful must be the motive that is brought to bear upon him to do well. I remark, in view of these statements and reasonings--
1. Sin is bad enough ordinarily. I do not refer to its influence upon others, but to its reactionary influence upon our own moral state. Not only is it bad enough, but ordinarily it is made worse by the mode in which men treat it. If men stopped, whenever they did wrong, and measured it, and called it by its proper name, and turned away from it, although the process of recovery would be slow, it would in many respects be salutary, by way of strengthening and educating the mind; but when men commit sin, and institute a special plea, and defend their wrong-doing, and conceal it, and equivocate concerning it, they are corrupted even more by the defence than by the wrong-doing itself. How sad is that condition in which the compass will not point to the polar star! If there be fatal attractions on the ship, and if the shipmaster has steered by a compass that is not true in its directions, it would be better if he had thrown it overboard; because he has perfect confidence in it, and it has been lying all the time. And if the conscience, that is the compass of the soul, is perverted, and does not point to truth and right, and men are guiding themselves by it, how fatally are they going down to destruction!
2. What is the reason of the stress that is laid in the Word of God on the subject of confessing and forsaking sin? Let him that stole steal no more, etc. Confess your faults one to another. This doctrine was the great recuperative element. It was the preaching of John. It was the initial preaching of Christ. It was the preaching of the apostles. It is the annunciation of the Gospel. Confess and forsake your sin. Own that it is sin. Be honest with yourself. Make at last to yourself a full and clear acknowledgment that wrong is wrong. All men fail, and come short of their duty; but some justify, and palliate, and excuse, and deny, while others confess, and repent, and forsake--and these last are the true men. (H. W. Beecher.)
Organisation and responsibility
That men are variously constituted is a fact not merely profoundly interesting to the speculative philosopher, but of the greatest practical consequence to the Christian philanthropist. While the genus, man, is founded on a common basis, the individual is marked by characteristics singular to himself. Let us look at some special instances of peculiar organisation, and then consider them in relation to personal responsibility. For example, take the man whose dominating characteristic is acquisitiveness. That mans creed is a word, and that word is but a syllable: his creed is Get; nothing less, nothing more,--simply Get! With him benevolence is a matter of weights and scales; with him buying and selling and getting gain are the highest triumphs of mortal genius. Ask him why. Instantly he recurs to his organisation. He says, God made me as I am; He did not consult me as to the constitution of my being; He made me acquisitive, and I must be faithful to my organisation; and I will go forward to meet Him at the day of judgment, and tell Him to His face that He has me as He made me, and I disclaim all responsibility. The organisation of another man predominates in the direction of combativeness. The man is litigious, quarrelsome, cantankerous, violent: Ask him why. He says, I must be faithful to my constitution; my whole manhood is intensely combative; I did not make myself; God has made me as He made me, and I disown all laws of obligation. Here is a man with little hope. He sees a lion on every way; he dreads that ruin will be the end of every enterprise; he knows not the sweetness of contentment or the repose of an intelligent hope; he is always mourning, always repining; his voice is an unceasing threnody, his face a perpetual winter. Ask him why. He says, God so made me; if He had put within me the angel of hope, I should have been sharer of your gladness; I should have been your companion in the choir; I should have been a happier man: He covered me with night that owns no star; He gave my fingers no cunning art of music; He meant me to look at Him through tears and to offer my poor worship in sighs. We cannot enter into all the questions which may lie between God and man on the subject of organisation. Let us take one or two such cases as have just been outlined. We found the acquisitive man getting gold, getting at all risks; getting till his conscience was seared and his understanding darkened. In that case ought we to sympathise with the man, saying, We are sorry for you; we lament that your organisation compels you to be avaricious: we know you cannot help it, so we exempt you from all responsibility? No! we would say as in thunder; No! we do not find fault with the organisation of the acquisitive man; but if he pleads the excuse already cited, we openly charge him with having degraded and diabolised that constitution; he has not used it, but abused it; he has not been faithful, but faithless, and must be branded as a criminal. The mans organisation is acquisitive; be it so: that circumstance in itself does not necessitate crime. There are two courses open to the acquisitive man. To him we say, Do be faithful to your organisation, do get, get money by right means, get exaltation by legitimate processes; but with all thy getting, get understanding, for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, etc. The combative man; what of him? Do we sympathise with him? Sir, your case demands commiseration, inasmuch as you must be faithful to your organisation, and that organisation happens to be a dreadful one? No! to the combative man we say, There are two courses open to you: you can fight with muscle, and steel, and gunpowder; you may train yourself to be pitiless as a tiger; you may be petulant, resentful, hard-hearted: the choice is before you to pronounce the elective word! Or, there is another course open: you may choose weapons that are not carnal; you may resist the devil; you may wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The argument which the fatalist bases upon organisation is self-annihilating when applied to the common relations of life. All human legislation assumes mans power of self-regulation, and grounds itself on the grand doctrine of mans responsibility to man. At this point, then, Divine revelation meets human reason, and insists upon the same principle in relation to God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v8 (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 The Warning Example of Shiloh
The Warning Example of Shiloh
v. 8. Behold, ye trust in lying words, those of the false prophets, the hypocritical leaders, that cannot profit, which brought only harm and the curse upon them.
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v. 9. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, the chief idol of the heathen nations round about, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, who have never manifested and proved themselves as the true God did, by His words and works,
v. 10. and come and stand before Me in this house, in brazen hypocrisy, Cf Eze 23:39, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? They believed that, in spite of the threats announced by the prophet, they had nothing to fear, that the calamities which Jeremiah insisted were impending would not strike them, that their hypocritical behavior would have no evil consequences. But the Lord has His rejoinder ready.
v. 11. Is this house, which is called by My name, the Temple where Jehovah revealed Himself, become a den of robbers in your eyes? a place where they feel safe with their loot, a refuge where they hope to plan further abominations. Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord, namely, the fact that this abuse of the Temple is taking place.
v. 12. But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, namely, when the Tabernacle was erected there, Deu 12:11; Jos 18:1, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. Because the northern nation persisted in its idolatrous practices, the Lord not only took away the Tabernacle from Shiloh, but He also brought a complete destruction upon the entire country of the ten tribes. This fact is intended as an example of warning to Judah.
v. 13. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, becoming guilty of the various forms of wickedness which He has enumerated in His reproofs, and I spake unto you, rising up early, in His earnest zeal for their welfare, and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not, being willfully disobedient and stubborn,
v. 14. therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, placing their confidence in the external building, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. As the Lord had ceased to dwell in the midst of the disobedient Israelites, when He took from them His sanctuary, so He would cease to dwell at Jerusalem.
v. 15. And I will cast you out of My sight, completely disowning them, as I have cast out all your brethren, descendants of the same forefather, Abraham, even the whole seed of Ephraim, the ten tribes. The evidences of the goodness of the Lord are intended at all times to lead men to repentance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues giving Jeremiah his message to the people of Judah.
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General Information:
The word "you" in these verses refers to the people of Judah.
Behold!
The word "Behold" here alerts us to pay attention to the information that follows.
Do you steal, kill, and commit adultery? Do you swear ... and walk after other gods whom you have not known?
These questions expect a positive answer to make the point that God knows the sins they are committing. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "You steal, kill, and commit adultery. You swear ... and walk after other gods whom you have not known." (See: Rhetorical Question)
swear deceitfully
"lie even in your oaths"
walk after other gods
Here walking after is a metonym for following after with the intent to serve and obey. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 7:6. AT: "serve other gods" (See: Metonymy)
Then do you come and stand ... so you can do all of these abominations?
This question expects a positive answer to make the point that God knows the hypocrisy of their words and actions. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "Then you come and stand ... so you can do all of these abominations." (See: Rhetorical Question)
house that is called by my name
This is a metonym for Yahweh's temple. It can be expressed in active form. AT: "house that belongs to me" or "temple where you worship me" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
Is this house, which carries my name, a den of bandits in your eyes?
This question expects a positive answer to make the point that God knows what they think about Yahweh's temple. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "This house, which carries my name, is a den of bandits in your eyes!" or "You act as though you think this house, which is called by my name, should be a place where bandits can go to hide!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
this house, which carries my name
Yahweh's temple is spoken of as if it was carrying the name of Yahweh. This has a similar meaning to "this house that is called by my name" in the previous verse. (See: Idiom)
bandits
violent people who steal and destroy
But behold, I have seen it
"But I certainly have seen what you are doing"
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
trust
deceive
adultery
oath
incense
Baal
know
house
name
preach
save
abomination
Yahweh
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 7:8-10 steal, murder, commit adultery, lie: The people’s behavior…
7:8-10 steal, murder, commit adultery, lie: The people’s behavior violated most of the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:3-7, 13-17). • burn incense . . . chant: Israel’s relationship with God did not depend on any magical, ritual connection with him. It depended on their keeping the terms of his covenant. The things they were doing violated the terms of that relationship and denied the Lord’s holy character.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.