Jeremiah 9:14

14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

Jeremiah 9:14 in Other Translations

14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:

14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.

14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them.

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."

14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers 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 wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

13 The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.

14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

15 Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.

16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”

Cross References

• 1. S Jeremiah 2:8,23; Amos 2:4
• 2. S Jeremiah 3:17; S Jeremiah 7:24