◄ Jeremiah 10:24 ►
Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice--not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
Study Bible
Correct me, O LORD
The phrase "Correct me, O LORD," begins with a plea for divine correction. The Hebrew word for "correct" is "יַסְּרֵנִי" (yassereni), which implies discipline or chastening. This is not a request for punishment but for guidance and instruction. The speaker acknowledges the need for God's intervention to align with His will. In a conservative Christian perspective, this reflects the believer's desire for sanctification and growth in holiness. The use of "O LORD" (Yahweh) emphasizes a personal relationship with God, recognizing His authority and sovereignty.

but only with justice
The phrase "but only with justice;" indicates a request for correction that is fair and measured. The Hebrew word for "justice" is "מִשְׁפָּט" (mishpat), which encompasses judgment, law, and order. The petitioner seeks correction that is righteous and equitable, not arbitrary or harsh. This reflects a trust in God's character as just and merciful. In the broader biblical context, God's justice is always tempered with mercy, as seen throughout Scripture. The believer trusts that God's discipline is for their ultimate good and spiritual growth.

not in Your anger
The phrase "not in Your anger," reveals a concern for the intensity of divine correction. The Hebrew word for "anger" is "אַף" (aph), often associated with wrath or fierce displeasure. The speaker is aware of the severity of God's anger and seeks correction that is not driven by it. This reflects an understanding of God's holiness and the seriousness of sin, but also a hope for mercy. In a conservative Christian view, this acknowledges the reality of God's wrath against sin but also His willingness to forgive and restore those who repent.

or You will bring me to nothing
The phrase "or You will bring me to nothing." expresses the fear of being utterly destroyed by God's anger. The Hebrew word "תַּמְעִיטֵנִי" (tam'iteni) can be translated as "diminish" or "reduce." The speaker recognizes human frailty and the potential for complete ruin under divine wrath. This highlights the need for God's mercy and the believer's dependence on His grace. In the broader scriptural context, it underscores the balance between God's justice and mercy, reminding believers of the importance of humility and repentance.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, known for his prophecies concerning the judgment and restoration of Israel. He is often called the "weeping prophet" due to his deep sorrow over the sins of his people and the impending judgment.

2. LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God used in the Hebrew Bible, emphasizing His eternal existence and faithfulness to His promises.

3. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing imminent judgment due to its idolatry and disobedience to God.

4. Babylonian Exile
The event during which the people of Judah were taken captive by Babylon as a result of their persistent sin and rebellion against God.
Teaching Points
Understanding Divine Correction
God's correction is an expression of His love and justice. It is meant to guide us back to righteousness, not to destroy us.

The Balance of Justice and Mercy
While God is just, He is also merciful. We can trust Him to correct us in a way that is fair and compassionate.

The Importance of Humility in Prayer
Jeremiah's prayer reflects humility and a recognition of personal sin. We should approach God with a similar attitude, acknowledging our need for His guidance.

The Role of Discipline in Spiritual Growth
Just as discipline is necessary for growth in any area of life, spiritual discipline is essential for our development in faith and character.

Trusting God's Character
Even when facing correction, we can trust in God's unchanging character—His justice, mercy, and love.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Jeremiah's request for correction "only with justice" reflect his understanding of God's character?

2. In what ways can we see God's discipline as an act of love rather than punishment?

3. How can we apply the principle of seeking God's correction in our daily lives, especially when we face challenges or failures?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure our prayers reflect humility and a desire for God's guidance, similar to Jeremiah's prayer?

5. How do the additional scriptures (Psalm 6:1, Hebrews 12:5-11, Proverbs 3:11-12) enhance our understanding of God's discipline and correction?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 6:1
This verse echoes a similar plea for correction without anger, highlighting the psalmist's desire for God's discipline to be tempered with mercy.

Hebrews 12:5-11
This passage discusses God's discipline as a sign of His love, emphasizing that He disciplines us for our good, so we may share in His holiness.

Proverbs 3:11-12
These verses remind us not to despise the Lord's discipline, as it is a sign of His love and care for us as His children.
Sermons
Correction in JudgmentR. W. Alton.Jeremiah 10:24
God's Correction of His PeopleD. Young Jeremiah 10:24
Prayer for CorrectionJohn D. Lane, M. A.Jeremiah 10:24
The Beneficent Design of DisciplineH. W. Beecher.Jeremiah 10:24
Fruits of a Chastened SpiritS. Conway Jeremiah 10:23-25
People
Jacob, Jeremiah, Tarshish
Places
Tarshish, Uphaz, Zion
Topics
Anger, Bring, Chastise, Correct, Diminish, Judgment, Justice, Lest, Measure, Nothing, O, Purpose, Reduce, Wise, Wrath
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 10:23

     4016   life, human
     5002   human race, and creation
     5020   human nature
     5326   government
     6182   ignorance, human situation
     8126   guidance, need for

Library
May 16. "It is not in Man that Walketh to Direct his Steps" (Jer. x. 23).
"It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. x. 23). United to Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, you are accepted in the Beloved. He does not merely take my place as a man and settle my debts. He does that and more. He comes to give a perfect ideal of what a man should be. He is the model man, not for us to copy, for that would only bring discouragement and utter failure; but He will come and copy Himself in us. If Christ lives in me, I am another Christ. I am not like Him, but I have the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Possessing and Possessed
'The portion of Jacob is not like them--for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of Hosts is His name.'--JER. x. 16, R.V. Here we have set forth a reciprocal possession. We possess God, He possesses us. We are His inheritance, He is our portion. I am His; He is mine. This mutual ownership is the very living centre of all religion. Without it there is no relation of any depth between God and us. How much profounder such a conception is than the shallow …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Instructive Truth
"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."--Jeremiah 10:23. This declaration follows after Jeremiah's lamentation over the Lord's ancient people, who were about to be carried captive into Babylon. The prophet speaks of a fact that was well known to him. It is always well, brethren, to know the truth, and to know it so certainly that you are able to remember it just when you most need it. There are some people, who are very much like …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 50: 1904

Dwight -- the Sovereignty of God
Timothy Dwight was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. He graduated from Yale in 1769, served as chaplain in the army during the Revolutionary War and was chosen president of his university in 1795. He died, after holding that office for twelve years, in 1817. Lyman Beecher, who attributed his conversion to him, says: "He was of noble form, with a noble head and body, and had one of the sweetest smiles that ever you saw. When I heard him preach on 'the harvest is passed, the summer is ended, …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Of the Exercises of a Religious Man
The life of a Christian ought to be adorned with all virtues, that he may be inwardly what he outwardly appeareth unto men. And verily it should be yet better within than without, for God is a discerner of our heart, Whom we must reverence with all our hearts wheresoever we are, and walk pure in His presence as do the angels. We ought daily to renew our vows, and to kindle our hearts to zeal, as if each day were the first day of our conversion, and to say, "Help me, O God, in my good resolutions, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Of Hiding Our Grace under the Guard of Humility
"My Son, it is better and safer for thee to hide the grace of devotion, and not to lift thyself up on high, nor to speak much thereof, nor to value it greatly; but rather to despise thyself, and to fear as though this grace were given to one unworthy thereof. Nor must thou depend too much upon this feeling, for it can very quickly be turned into its opposite. Think when thou art in a state of grace how miserable and poor thou art wont to be without grace. Nor is there advance in spiritual life …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

"And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. "
1 John ii. 3.--"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." This age pretends to much knowledge beyond former ages, knowledge, I say, not only in other natural arts and sciences, but especially in religion. Whether there be any great advancement in other knowledge, and improvement of that which was, to a further extent and clearness, I cannot judge, but I believe there is not much of it in this nation, nor do we so much pretend to it. But, we talk of the enlargements of …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of Sodom, Give Ear unto the Law of Our God, Ye People of Gomorrah,"
Isaiah i. 10, 11, &c.--"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah," &c. It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment, nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Meditations for Household Piety.
1. If thou be called to the government of a family, thou must not hold it sufficient to serve God and live uprightly in thy own person, unless thou cause all under thy charge to do the same with thee. For the performance of this duty God was so well pleased with Abraham, that he would not hide from him his counsel: "For," saith God, "I know him that he will command his sons and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

"For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Creation
Q-7: WHAT ARE THE DECREES OF GOD? A: The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever shall come to pass. I have already spoken something concerning the decrees of God under the attribute of his immutability. God is unchangeable in his essence, and he-is unchangeable in his decrees; his counsel shall stand. He decrees the issue of all things, and carries them on to their accomplishment by his providence; I …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

God's Sovereignty and Prayer
"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Throughout this book it has been our chief aim to exalt the Creator and abase the creature. The well-nigh universal tendency now, is to magnify man and dishonour and degrade God. On every hand it will be found that, when spiritual things are under discussion, the human side and element is pressed and stressed, and the Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is relegated to the background. This holds true of very much of the …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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