Jeremiah 9:13

13 God's answer: "Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn't listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to.

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'm going to make Jerusalem a pile of rubble, fit for nothing but stray cats and dogs. I'm going to reduce Judah's towns to piles of ruins where no one lives!"

12 I asked, "Is there anyone around bright enough to tell us what's going on here? Anyone who has the inside story from God and can let us in on it? "Why is the country wasted? "Why no travelers in this desert?"

13 God's answer: "Because they abandoned my plain teaching. They wouldn't listen to anything I said, refused to live the way I told them to.

14 Instead they lived any way they wanted and took up with the Baal gods, who they thought would give them what they wanted - following the example of their parents."

15 And this is the consequence. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so: "I'll feed them with pig slop. "I'll give them poison to drink.