Jeremiah 16:12

12 And you're even worse! Take a good look in the mirror - each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me.

Jeremiah 16:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:12

And ye have done worse than your fathers
Not only committed the same sins, but greater, or, however, attended with more aggravating circumstances; they were wilfully and impudently done, and obstinately persisted in; and therefore deserving of the great evil of punishment pronounced against them. For, behold, ye walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart;
they walked not as the word of God directs, but as their own evil heart dictated; the imagination of which was evil, and that continually, ( Genesis 6:5 ) . That they may not hearken unto me;
to the word of the Lord, and obey that; their minds being blinded, and their hearts hardened, and they obstinately bent on their own evil ways.

Jeremiah 16:12 In-Context

10 "When you tell this to the people and they ask, 'Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We're not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?'
11 tell them this: 'It's because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn't do a thing I told them.
12 And you're even worse! Take a good look in the mirror - each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me.
13 And for this I'm getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart's content. Rest assured, I won't bother you anymore.'
14 "On the other hand, don't miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, 'As sure as God lives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.'
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.