Jeremiah 11:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 11:8
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
inclined
הִטּ֣וּhi.Tu
H5186
to stretch or spread out · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
ear
אָזְנָ֔ם'a.ze.Nam
H241
broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
walked
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
one
אִ֕ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
imagination
בִּשְׁרִיר֖וּתbish.ri.Rut
H8307
obstinacy · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
evil
הָרָ֑עha.Ra'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
heart
לִבָּ֣םli.Bam
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
bring
וָאָבִ֨יאva.'a.Vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
words
דִּבְרֵ֧יdiv.Rei
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine plural construct
covenant
הַבְּרִיתha.be.rit-
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
commanded
צִוִּ֥יתִיtzi.Vi.ti
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
do
לַעֲשׂ֖וֹתla.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
did
עָשֽׂוּ'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, an…
Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Je…
Jeremiah 35:15 I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way,…
Ezekiel 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did th…
Leviticus 26:14-46 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
Deuteronomy 28:15-68 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statut…
Deuteronomy 29:21-24 And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 11:1-10
The prophet here, as prosecutor in God's name, draws up an indictment against the Jews for wilful disobedience to the commands of their rightful Sovereign. For the more solemn management of this charge,
I. He produces the commission he had to draw up the charge against them. He did not take pleasure in accusing the children of his people, but God commanded him to speak it to the men of Judah, Jer 11:1, Jer 11:2. In the original it is plural: Speak you this. For what he said to Jeremiah was the same that he gave in charge to all his servants the prophets. They none of them said any other than what Moses, in the law, had said; to that therefore they must refer themselves, and direct the people…
imagination--rather, "stubbornness."
will bring--The words, "even unto this day" (Jer 11:7), confirm English Version rather than the rendering of ROSENMULLER: "I brought upon them."
words--threats (Jer 11:3; Deu 27:15-26).
John Gill on Jeremiah 11:8
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear,.... Though they had such strong solicitations and fair warnings, and these repeated again and again; all which was an aggravation of their disobedience and stubbornness:
but walked everyone in the imagination of their evil heart; which is desperately wicked, and is evil, and that continually, even every imagination of it; wherefore walking herein must be very wide and different from walking in the law of the Lord, and obeying that; see Jeremiah 3:17,
therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant; that is, all the curses and threatenings denounced in it against the disobedient; and so the Targum,
"and I brought upon them vengea…
Jeremiah 11:6-8
6. Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, amid do them.
6, Ex dixit Jehova ad me, clama (hoc est, clamosa voce promulga) verba haec in urbibus Jehudah et in compitis Jerusalem dicendo, Audite verba foederis hujus et facite ca.
7. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers, in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
7. Quia contestando contestatus sum patribus vestris dic qua feci ascendere eos e terra Egypti usque ad diem hanc, mane surgendo et contestando et dicendo, Au…
The Church Fathers
When he was giving the law, he added this to the law, for he said, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them," and he also promises there and again here how he will deem worthy of all care those who keep the divine commandments. And he reminds them also of the things spoken to their ancestors and of their ancestors' disobedience. For they turned their ear away, he says, and every one went in the direction of his own evil heart. And he says here "direction" not as meaning "uprightness" but rather the evil that arises immediately in their malice. For they have not turned from this evil but have journeyed constantly in it. "And I brought on them all the words of this covenant that I commanded them to do, and yet they did not do." He gave them over to noteworthy punishments; sometimes they served the Ammonites, other times the Moabites and still other times other foreigners.…The phrase "a band has been found" means "they have banded themselves together and joined themselves with their ancestors and they travel down the road of their ancestors' wickedness." He indicates as much also through the things that are brought against them. "And behold, they go after foreign gods, in order to serve them." They do these things in transgression of the covenant that was given to them. For this reason I will surround them with misfortunes of all kinds, and those who weep I will not deem worthy to be spared. They will not even enjoy any help from the gods who are revered by them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Judah's Disloyalty to the Covenant, with the Consequences Thereof
In Jer 11:2-8 is a short summary of the covenant made with the fathers; in Jer 11:9-13 is an account of the breaking of this covenant by Judah, and of the calamity which results therefrom; and in Jer 11:14-17 further description of this calamity.
Jer 11:1-8
"The word which came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jer 11:2. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jer 11:3. And say thou to them: Thus hath Jahve, the God of Israel, said: Cursed is the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, Jer 11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them…
The Old Testament books of Numbers, Judges, Samuel, and Kings describe how the people of Israel repeatedly violated the covenant right up to Jeremiah’s time.
Rashi on Jeremiah 11:8
And I brought upon them all the words of this covenant The curses stated in the covenant for the things that I commanded to do and they did not do.
