Jeremiah 9:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 9:4
Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
properly · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
one
אִ֤ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
neighbour
מֵרֵעֵ֙הוּ֙me.re.'E.hu
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
trust
תִּבְטָ֑חוּtiv.Ta.chu
H982
figuratively · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine plural
brother
אָ֖ח'ach
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
brother
אָח֙'ach
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
utterly
עָק֣וֹבa.Kov
H6117
to seize by the heel · verb, qal infinitive absolute
supplant
יַעְקֹ֔בya'.Ko
H6117
to seize by the heel · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
neighbour
רֵ֖עַRe.a'
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
walk
יַהֲלֹֽךְya.ha.Lokh
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
slanders
רָכִ֥ילra.Khil
H7400
a scandal-monger (as travelling about) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Micah 7:5-6 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
Proverbs 26:24-25 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
Psalms 12:2-3 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
Leviticus 19:16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
Proverbs 10:18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
Proverbs 25:18 A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.
Jeremiah 6:28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
Psalms 15:3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 9:1-11
The prophet, being commissioned both to foretel the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem and to point out the sin for which that destruction was brought upon them, here, as elsewhere, speaks of both very feelingly: what he said of both came from the heart, and therefore one would have thought it would reach to the heart.
I. He abandons himself to sorrow in consideration of the calamitous condition of his people, which he sadly laments, a one that preferred Jerusalem before his chief joy and her grievances before his chief sorrows.
1. He laments the slaughter of the persons, the blood shed and the lives lost (Jer 9:1): "O that my head were waters, quite melted and dissolved with grief,…
supplant--literally, "trip up by the heel" (Hos 12:3).
walk with slanders-- (Jer 6:28).
John Gill on Jeremiah 9:4
Take ye heed everyone of his neighbour,.... Take care of being imposed upon by them, since they are so given to lying and deceit; be not too credulous, or too easily believe what is said; or keep yourselves from them; have no company or conversation with them, since evil communications corrupt good manners:
and trust ye not in any brother; whether by blood or by marriage, or by religion, believe not his words; trust him not, neither with your money, nor with your mind; commit not your secrets to him, place no confidence in him; a people must be very corrupt indeed when this is the case: or, "trust ye not in every brother" (r); some may be trusted, but not all though the following clause see…
Jeremiah 9:4
4. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
4. Et vir a socio suo cavete (hoc est, caveat; ad verbum, custodiat se; caveat igitur sibi quisque a socio,) et super omni fratre (ad verbum) ne confidatis (hoc est, nemo confidat proprio fratre;) quia omnis frater supplantando supplantat, et omnis socius fraudulenter incedit.
In this verse the Prophet describes the extreme wickedness of the people. For though sometimes thefts, robberies, frauds, slaughters, perjuries, sorceries prevail, yet some regard for near relations remains; but it is monstrous when all relati…
The Church Fathers
"For every brother will utterly supplant, and every friend will walk deceitfully. And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth, for they have bent their tongue like a bow for lies and not for truth." But often a pretended patience excites to anger more keenly than words, and a spiteful silence exceeds the most awful insults in words. The wounds of enemies are more easily borne than the deceitful blandishment of mockers, as is well said by the prophet.
(Verse 4 and following) Let each person guard themselves from their neighbor, and let them not have trust in any brother, for every brother will deceive and every friend will act deceitfully; and a man will mock his brother, and they will not speak the truth. For they have taught their tongue to speak lies (or their tongue has learned to speak lies), in order to act wickedly, they have labored (or acted unjustly) and have not ceased from turning away. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, in deceit (or usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit); they refused (or did not want) to know me, says the Lord. This place should be used in times of persecution and distress, when either faith is rare or non-existent: when neither brother nor neighbor can be trusted, and the enemies of a man are those of his own household (Mich. 7): when, according to the Gospel, the father will betray the son, and the son the father, and two will be divided into three, and three into two. And what it implies, They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, or their tongue has learned to speak falsehood (Matt. X), shows that the habit of lying is somehow turned into nature: and they diligently act so that they may do wicked things. And what follows, Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, in deceit, is specifically directed to the Prophet, that he dwells among a lying people; or as the Seventy translated: Usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: and that they increase their crimes daily, and have no remorse for their previous actions, but rather accumulate past offenses with new ones. They do these things, with all zeal, so that they may not know the Lord, who did not command these things to be done.
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
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prophets · Felt deeply on account of the calamities which they predicted — Felt deeply on account of the calamities which they predicted
Slander · The wicked addicted to — The wicked addicted to
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).
Jer 9:1. "Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfarers! then would I leave my people, and go away from them. For they be all adulterers, a crew of faithless ones. Jer 9:2. They bend their tongue like their bow with lying; and not according to faithfulness do they manage in the land, but go on from evil to evil, and me they know not, saith Jahve. Jer 9:3. Beware each of his neighbour, and trust not in any brother; for every brother supplanteth, and every friend goeth slandering. Jer 9:4. And one overreaCheth the other, and truth they speak not; they teach their tongue to speak lies, to deal perversely they weary themselves. Jer 9:5. Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit; in d…
The lie of idolatry was at the root of an entire culture of deceit. • The word brother, as a synonym for neighbor, indicates that even the closest relationships were polluted with fraud.
Rashi on Jeremiah 9:4
they commit iniquity [until] they are weary They wearied themselves and toiled to pervert their way.
העוה is like (Exod. 8:11) “and making heavy (והכבּד) his heart,” to commit iniquity.