Jeremiah 6:28

28 All are stubborn rebels spreading slander.^[a] [They are] bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.^[b]

Jeremiah 6:28 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:28

They are all grievous revolters
From the right way of God and his worship: or, they are all revolters of revolters
^F5; of all, the greatest revolters, the greatest sinners and transgressors, the most stubborn and disobedient; or sons of revolters; fathers and children are alike. The Targum, is,

``all their princes rebel;''

and so the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions: "walking with slanders": of one another; or with deceit, as the Targum; in a hypocritical and fraudulent manner; playing the hypocrite with God, or tricking and deceiving their neighbours. They are "brass and iron"; as vile and mean as those metals, and not as gold and silver; or as hard and inflexible as they are; or they deal as insincerely

``as he that mixes brass with iron;''

so the Targum: they are all corrupters;
as such that mix metals are; they are corrupters of themselves and of others, of the doctrines and manners of men, and of the ways and worship of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Myrrwo yro) "refractarii refractariorum", Schmidt; "contumacium contumacissimi", Junius & Tremellius.

Jeremiah 6:28 In-Context

26 My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn [as you would for] an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

27 I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people- a refiner- so you may know and assay their way of life.

28 All are stubborn rebels spreading slander. [They are] bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.

29 The bellows blow, blasting the lead with fire. The refining is completely in vain; the evil ones are not separated out.

30 They are called rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them.

Footnotes

• [a] Lv 19:16; Pr 11:13; 20:19
• [b] 2 Ch 27:2; Isa 1:4