Jeremiah 9:14

14 but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them."

Jeremiah 9:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:14

But have walked after the imagination of their own heart
What their own hearts devised, chose, and were best pleased with; (See Gill on Jeremiah 7:24), and after Baalim;
the idols of the Gentiles; these they served and worshipped, and not the true God: which their fathers taught them;
which was so far from excusing them, that it was an aggravation of their sin, that they had continued in their wicked ways and idolatrous practices, from age to age, from one generation to another. This then was the cause of their calamity and destruction; they had forsaken the law of the Lord, and had broken that; they had chose their own ways, and had been guilty of idolatrous practices time out of mind; wherefore the Lord had shown much longsuffering and patience with them, and would now no longer forbear he was just and righteous in his doings.

Jeremiah 9:14 In-Context

12 Who [is] the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed? It is laid waste like the desert so that no one passes through."

13 And Yahweh said, "Because of their forsaking my law that I set {before} them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it,

14 but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them."

15 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I [am] feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,

16 and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end."

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "fathers"