Jeremiah 1:16
New International Version
I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.

New Living Translation
I will pronounce judgment on my people for all their evil— for deserting me and burning incense to other gods. Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands!

English Standard Version
And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Berean Standard Bible
I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

King James Bible
And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

New King James Version
I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, Burned incense to other gods, And worshiped the works of their own hands.

New American Standard Bible
And I will pronounce My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, since they have abandoned Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

NASB 1995
“I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

NASB 1977
“And I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Legacy Standard Bible
I will speak My judgments on them concerning all their evil, whereby they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Amplified Bible
I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

Christian Standard Bible
“I will pronounce my judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“I will pronounce My judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

American Standard Version
And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Contemporary English Version
I will punish my people, because they are guilty of turning from me to worship idols.

English Revised Version
And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness; in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I will pass sentence on my people because of all their wickedness. They abandoned me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped what their hands have made.

Good News Translation
I will punish my people because they have sinned; they have abandoned me, have offered sacrifices to other gods, and have made idols and worshiped them.

International Standard Version
"I'll pronounce my judgments against them because of all their wickedness. They have forsaken me, they have burned incense to other gods, and they have bowed down in worship to the works of their own hands."

Majority Standard Bible
I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

NET Bible
In this way I will pass sentence on the people of Jerusalem and Judah because of all their wickedness. For they rejected me and offered sacrifices to other gods, worshiping what they made with their own hands."

New Heart English Bible
I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Webster's Bible Translation
And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

World English Bible
I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And I have spoken My judgments with them concerning all their evil, in that they have forsaken Me, and make incense to other gods, and bow themselves to the works of their own hands.

Young's Literal Translation
And I have spoken My judgments with them concerning all their evil, in that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, and bow themselves to the works of their own hands.

Smith's Literal Translation
And I spake my judgment with them concerning all their evil, who forsook me, and they will burn incense to other gods, and they will worship to the works of their hands.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will pronounce my judgements against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, and have adored the work of their own hands.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And I will speak my judgments with them, concerning all the wickedness of those who have forsaken me, and who have offered libations to strange gods, and who have adored the work of their own hands.

New American Bible
I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, In burning incense to other gods, in bowing down to the works of their hands.

New Revised Standard Version
And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And I will utter my judgments against them, because of all their wickedness, for they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And I shall speak my judgment with them because of all their evil, for they have forsaken me, and they placed sweet incense to other gods, and they worshiped the work of their hands
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness; in that they have forsaken me, and have offered unto other gods, and worshipped the work of their own hands.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And I will speak to them in judgment, concerning all their iniquity, forasmuch as they have forsaken me, and sacrificed to strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Call of Jeremiah
15For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah. 16I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands. 17Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.…

Cross References
2 Kings 22:17
because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be kindled against this place and will not be quenched.’

2 Chronicles 34:25
because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be poured out upon this place and will not be quenched.’

Deuteronomy 31:16-18
And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them. / On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’ / And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

Isaiah 1:4
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.

Isaiah 2:8
Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

Isaiah 65:3
to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,

Ezekiel 8:10-18
So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel. / Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. / “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’” ...

Hosea 4:12-13
My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God. / They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

Hosea 13:2
Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”

Micah 5:13-14
I will also cut off the carved images and sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your own hands. / I will root out the Asherah poles from your midst and demolish your cities.

Zephaniah 1:4-6
“I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests— / those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom, / and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”

Romans 1:18-23
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. / For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. / For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. ...

Romans 2:8-9
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger. / There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;

1 Corinthians 10:20-22
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. / You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too. / Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Galatians 5:19-21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; / idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, / and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.


Treasury of Scripture

And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

and I

Jeremiah 4:12,28
Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them…

Jeremiah 5:9,29
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? …

Ezekiel 24:14
I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

who have

Jeremiah 2:13,17
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water…

Jeremiah 15:6
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

Jeremiah 16:11
Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

and have

Jeremiah 7:9
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

Jeremiah 11:12,17
Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble…

Jeremiah 44:17
But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

worshipped

Jeremiah 10:8,9,15
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities…

Jeremiah 51:17
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

Isaiah 2:8
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

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Jeremiah 1
1. The time
4. And the calling of Jeremiah
11. His prophetical visions of an almond rod and a seething pot
15. His heavy message against Judah
17. God encourages him with his promise of assistance














I will pronounce My judgments
The phrase "I will pronounce My judgments" indicates God's sovereign authority to declare His divine verdicts. The Hebrew root for "pronounce" is "dabar," which means to speak or declare. This highlights the power and authority of God's word, which is not just informative but performative. In the context of ancient Israel, God's judgments were often communicated through prophets, serving as both warnings and calls to repentance. The term "judgments" (Hebrew: "mishpatim") refers to God's righteous decrees, emphasizing His role as the ultimate judge who discerns right from wrong.

against them
The phrase "against them" specifies the recipients of God's judgments. Historically, this refers to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, who had turned away from God. The use of "against" underscores the adversarial nature of the relationship at this point, as the people have positioned themselves in opposition to God's will. This serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of disobedience and the seriousness with which God views covenant unfaithfulness.

for all their wickedness
"All their wickedness" encompasses the totality of the people's sinful actions. The Hebrew word for "wickedness" is "ra'ah," which conveys a sense of evil or moral corruption. This phrase indicates that God's judgments are not arbitrary but are a response to the pervasive and persistent sinfulness of the people. It reflects the biblical principle that God is just and His actions are always in response to human behavior, particularly when it violates His covenant.

because they have forsaken Me
The phrase "because they have forsaken Me" reveals the root cause of the impending judgment: the people's abandonment of God. The Hebrew word "azab" means to leave or forsake, indicating a deliberate turning away. This highlights the covenantal relationship between God and Israel, where faithfulness was expected. Forsaking God is portrayed as a grievous sin because it breaks the intimate relationship that God desires with His people.

to burn incense to other gods
"To burn incense to other gods" describes one of the specific acts of idolatry committed by the people. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, burning incense was a common practice in worship, symbolizing prayer and devotion. The act of offering incense to "other gods" signifies a betrayal of exclusive worship owed to Yahweh, the one true God. This idolatry is a direct violation of the first commandment and represents a spiritual adultery that provokes God's righteous anger.

and to worship the works of their own hands
The phrase "and to worship the works of their own hands" further elaborates on the idolatrous practices of the people. It underscores the futility and absurdity of worshiping man-made objects. The Hebrew word for "worship" is "shachah," meaning to bow down or prostrate oneself, indicating reverence and submission. By worshiping "the works of their own hands," the people are not only engaging in idolatry but also demonstrating a misplaced trust in their own creations rather than in the Creator. This serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers of self-reliance and the importance of recognizing God's sovereignty.

(16) I will utter my judgments against them.--Here, again, we get a literal correspondence in the words of Jeremiah 39:5, "he gave [or uttered] judgment upon him," of Nebuchadnezzar's sentence on Zedekiah. And yet the invaders in their sentence are to be but the ministers of a higher judgment than their own. In the words "my judgments" He recognises their work.

Who have forsaken.--The remainder of the verse gives, as it were, the formal enumeration of the crimes for which Judah was condemned: (1) Apostacy from the true God; (2) the transfer of adoration to other Gods, such as Baal, Ashtaroth, and the Queen of Heaven; sins against the First Commandment; (3) the worship of graven images; a sin against the Second. The sins were of long standing, but the words point specially to the proportions they had assumed in the reign of Manasseh (2Chronicles 33:1-7).

Verse 16. - I will utter my judgments; or, I will hold a court of justice upon them; literally, I will speak judgments with them. The expression is peculiar to Jeremiah (comp. Jeremiah 4:12; Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:9), and includes both the examination of the accused, and the judicial sentence (see Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 52:9). All their wickedness, etc. Their "wickedness," i.e. their infidelity to Jehovah, showed itself in burning incense to "other gods," and bowing down to their images. "Burned incense" is, however, too narrow a sense. The root-meaning of the verb is to be fragrant, and the causative conjugations will strictly mean only "to make a sweet odor," whether by the offering of incense or by burnt offerings (comp. Jeremiah 11:12; 2 Kings 23:8, where a causative conjugation is used in the same wide sense here postulated; also Psalm 66:15 and Isaiah 1:13, where the word usually rendered "incense" seems rather to mean "a sweet smoke"). The prophet says, "of other gods" (not "of false gods"), out of consideration for the ignorance of his hearers, to whom Baal and Moloch really were as gods; in fact, that expressive word (cf.) which Isaiah uses ten times to express the unreality of the other so-called gods, occurs only once, and then not in quite the same sense (see Jeremiah 14:14) in Jeremiah. But the prophet's own strict monotheism is proved by such passages as Jeremiah 2:27a; Jeremiah 8:19b; Jeremiah 16:20.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I will pronounce
וְדִבַּרְתִּ֤י (wə·ḏib·bar·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

My judgments
מִשְׁפָּטַי֙ (miš·pā·ṭay)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 4941: A verdict, a sentence, formal decree, divine law, penalty, justice, privilege, style

against them
עַ֖ל (‘al)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

for all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the evil
רָעָתָ֑ם (rā·‘ā·ṯām)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil

they did,
אֲשֶׁ֣ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

when they abandoned Me
עֲזָב֗וּנִי (‘ă·zā·ḇū·nî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural | first person common singular
Strong's 5800: To loosen, relinquish, permit

to burn incense
וַֽיְקַטְּרוּ֙ (way·qaṭ·ṭə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 6999: To smoke, turn into fragrance by fire

to other
אֲחֵרִ֔ים (’ă·ḥê·rîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 312: Hinder, next, other

gods
לֵאלֹהִ֣ים (lê·lō·hîm)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

and to worship
וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֖וּ (way·yiš·ta·ḥă·wū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7812: To depress, prostrate

the works
לְמַעֲשֵׂ֥י (lə·ma·‘ă·śê)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 4639: An action, a transaction, activity, a product, property

of their own hands.
יְדֵיהֶֽם׃ (yə·ḏê·hem)
Noun - fdc | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3027: A hand


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 1:16 I will utter my judgments against them (Jer.)
Jeremiah 1:15
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