To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. To whom can I speak and give warning?This phrase reflects the prophet Jeremiah's deep frustration and sorrow. The Hebrew word for "speak" (דבר, dabar) implies not just casual conversation but a declaration or proclamation, often with divine authority. Jeremiah is not merely talking; he is delivering a message from God. The word "warning" (הזהיר, hazir) suggests a call to attention, a caution against impending danger. Historically, prophets were God's mouthpieces, tasked with guiding the people back to righteousness. Jeremiah's lament here underscores the isolation he feels as a prophet whose warnings fall on deaf ears. Who will listen?
The Hebrew root for "listen" (שמע, shama) goes beyond mere auditory reception; it implies understanding and obedience. In the ancient Near Eastern context, listening was synonymous with heeding and acting upon what was heard. Jeremiah's rhetorical question highlights the people's stubbornness and unwillingness to change their ways. This reflects a broader biblical theme where God’s people often struggle with spiritual deafness, a condition that leads to judgment and exile. Their ears are closed so they cannot hear
The imagery of closed ears (ערלה, arelah) is powerful, suggesting a deliberate refusal to listen. In Hebrew, this term can also mean "uncircumcised," which carries a connotation of impurity or being outside the covenant community. This metaphor indicates a spiritual condition where the people are not just physically unable to hear but are spiritually resistant to God's message. This resistance is a recurring theme in the prophetic literature, where the people's hardness of heart leads to their downfall. The word of the LORD is offensive to them
The "word of the LORD" (דבר יהוה, dabar Yahweh) is a central concept in the Hebrew Bible, representing God's revealed will and instruction. The term "offensive" (חרפה, cherpah) can also be translated as "reproach" or "disgrace." This indicates that the people not only reject God's word but also view it with contempt. Historically, this reflects a period in Judah's history where idolatry and moral decay were rampant, and God's standards were seen as burdensome rather than life-giving. they find no pleasure in it
The Hebrew word for "pleasure" (חפץ, chaphets) conveys delight or desire. The people's lack of pleasure in God's word suggests a deep spiritual malaise. In the biblical worldview, true joy and fulfillment are found in obedience to God. The absence of delight in God's word indicates a severed relationship with the divine, leading to spiritual emptiness. This phrase serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of turning away from God’s truth. Persons / Places / Events 1. JeremiahA prophet called by God to deliver messages of warning and judgment to the people of Judah. His ministry was marked by deep personal struggle and opposition from those he was sent to warn. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing impending judgment due to its persistent disobedience and idolatry. Jeremiah's prophecies were directed primarily at this kingdom. 3. The LORDThe covenant God of Israel, who is both just and merciful. He sends prophets like Jeremiah to call His people back to faithfulness. 4. The People of JudahThe audience of Jeremiah's message, characterized by their hardened hearts and refusal to heed God's warnings. 5. The Word of the LORDThe divine message given to Jeremiah, which was meant to guide, correct, and warn the people of Judah. Teaching Points Spiritual DeafnessJust as the people of Judah had closed their ears to God's word, we must examine our own hearts to ensure we are receptive to His voice. Are there areas in our lives where we are resistant to God's guidance? The Offense of TruthThe word of the LORD was offensive to the people of Judah. In our culture, biblical truth can also be offensive. We must be prepared to stand firm in our faith, even when it is countercultural. The Role of the ProphetJeremiah's role was to speak truth, regardless of the response. As Christians, we are called to share God's truth with love and courage, trusting Him with the results. Finding Pleasure in God's WordUnlike the people of Judah, who found no pleasure in God's word, we are encouraged to delight in Scripture, allowing it to transform our lives. Bible Study Questions 1. In what ways might we be closing our ears to God's warnings today, and how can we become more receptive to His voice? 2. How can we find pleasure in God's word, even when it challenges or convicts us? 3. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that we are not offended by biblical truth but instead embrace it? 4. How does the role of Jeremiah as a prophet inform our understanding of our own responsibility to share God's truth with others? 5. Can you identify a time when you felt called to speak truth in a difficult situation? How did you handle it, and what can you learn from Jeremiah's example? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 6:9-10This passage also speaks of people who hear but do not understand, highlighting a recurring theme of spiritual deafness and blindness among God's people. Ezekiel 12:2Similar to Jeremiah, Ezekiel is told that he is living among a rebellious people who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear. Matthew 13:14-15Jesus references Isaiah's prophecy, indicating that the issue of spiritual deafness and blindness persists into the New Testament era. People Benjamin, JeremiahPlaces Beth-haccherem, Jerusalem, Sheba, Tekoa, ZionTopics Able, Attend, Attention, Behold, Can't, Cause, Closed, Delight, Dull, Ear, Ears, Hearken, Listen, Note, Object, Offensive, Pleasure, Reproach, Scorn, Shame, Speak, Stopped, Testify, Uncircumcised, Warning, WitnessingDictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 6:10 1690 word of God
5147 deafness
5148 ear
5159 hearing
5885 indifference
5918 pleasure
6206 offence
6231 rejection of God
7712 convincing Library Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIIA Blast of the Trumpet against False Peace
The motive with these false prophets is an abominable one. Jeremiah tells us it was an evil covetousness. They preached smooth things because the people would have it so, because they thus brought grist to their own mill, and glory to their own names. Their design was abominable, and without doubt, their end shall be desperate--cast away with the refuse of mankind. These who professed to be the precious sons of God, comparable to fine gold, shall be esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860 Whitefield -- the Method of Grace
George Whitefield, evangelist and leader of Calvinistic Methodists, who has been called the Demosthenes of the pulpit, was born at Gloucester, England, in 1714. He was an impassioned pulpit orator of the popular type, and his power over immense congregations was largely due to his histrionic talent and his exquisitely modulated voice, which has been described as "an organ, a flute, a harp, all in one," and which at times became stentorian. He had a most expressive face, and altho he squinted, in …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3 Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology Prefatory Scripture Passages.
To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.-- Isa. viii. 20. Thus saith the Lord; Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.--Jer. vi. 16. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church Jesus Raises the Widow's Son.
(at Nain in Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 11-17. ^c 11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It An Obscured vision
(Preached at the opening of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.) TEXT: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."--Proverbs 29:18. It is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an occasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather because they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of the Bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every reading. Feeling the need of advice for such a time as this, I asked a number of my friends who …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot Sin Charged Upon the Surety
All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. C omparisons, in the Scripture, are frequently to be understood with great limitation: perhaps, out of many circumstances, only one is justly applicable to the case. Thus, when our Lord says, Behold, I come as a thief (Revelation 16:15) , --common sense will fix the resemblance to a single point, that He will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. So when wandering sinners …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Christian Meekness
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5 We are now got to the third step leading in the way to blessedness, Christian meekness. Blessed are the meek'. See how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart, with multiplicity of graces! The workmanship of the Holy Ghost is not only curious, but various. It makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable etc. The graces therefore are compared to needlework, which is different and various in its flowers and colours (Psalm 45:14). …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 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 Links Jeremiah 6:10 NIVJeremiah 6:10 NLTJeremiah 6:10 ESVJeremiah 6:10 NASBJeremiah 6:10 KJV
Jeremiah 6:10 Commentaries
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