Jeremiah 9:13

13 The Lord said, "It is because they abandoned My law^[a] I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

Jeremiah 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:13

And the Lord saith
The Septuagint version adds, "to me"; there being no wise and understanding man, nor prophet ^F2, to take up this affair, and open the cause of it, therefore the Lord undertakes it himself: the question was put to them, but they not answering it, the Lord does it, because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them;
in a plain and easy manner, so as to be readily understood; yet this they attended not unto, but forsook it, neglected it, and cast it behind their backs. Kimchi's note on the phrase, "before them", is,

``not in heaven is it, nor beyond the sea is it;''

see ( Deuteronomy 30:11-14 ) : and have not obeyed my voice;
in the law, and by the prophets: neither walked therein:
according to it, as the Lord directed; they neither hearkened to the voice of the Lord, nor did as they were instructed by it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Vid. T. Nedarim, fol. 81. 1. & Bava Metzia fol. 85. 1, 2.

Jeremiah 9:13 In-Context

11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.

12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

13 The Lord said, "It is because they abandoned My law I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers taught them."

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous waters to drink.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Ch 12:1