Yirmeyah 6:20

20 To what purpose cometh there to Me frankincense from Sheva [i.e., southwest Arabia], and the sweet cane from a far country? Your olot (burnt offerings) are not acceptable, nor your zevakhim pleasing unto Me.

Yirmeyah 6:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:20

To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba
In Persia or Arabia, from whence incense was brought, and perhaps the best; see ( Isaiah 60:6 ) , and yet the offering of this was of no esteem with God, when the words of the prophet, and the law of his mouth, were despised; see ( Isaiah 1:13 ) : and the sweet cane from a far country?
either from the same place, Sheba, which was a country afar off, ( Joel 3:8 ) , or from India, as Jerom interprets it; this was one of the spices in the anointing oil, ( Exodus 30:23 ) and though this was of divine appointment, and an omission of it is complained of, ( Isaiah 43:24 ) yet when this was brought with a hypocritical heart, and to atone for neglects of the moral law, and sins committed against that, it was rejected by the Lord: your burnt, offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet
unto me:
being offered up with a wicked mind, and without faith in Christ, and in order to expiate the guilt of black crimes unrepented of, and continued in; they were not grateful to God, nor could he smell a sweet savour in them, but loathed and abhorred them; see ( Isaiah 1:11 ) .

Yirmeyah 6:20 In-Context

18 Therefore hear, ye Goyim, and know, O Edah (Congregation), what will happen to them.

19 Hear, HaAretz (O Earth); hinei, I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) upon HaAm Hazeh, even the p’ri (fruit) of their machsh’vot (schemes), because they have not paid heed unto My devarim, nor to My torah, but rejected it.

20 To what purpose cometh there to Me frankincense from Sheva [i.e., southwest Arabia], and the sweet cane from a far country? Your olot (burnt offerings) are not acceptable, nor your zevakhim pleasing unto Me.

21 Therefore thus saith Hashem, Hineni, I will lay michsholim (stumblingblocks) before HaAm HaZeh, and the Avot and the Banim together shall stumble upon them; the shakhen (neighbor) and his re’a (neighbor, friend) shall perish.

22 Thus saith Hashem, Hinei, Am (an Army, a people) cometh from the eretz tzafon, and a Goy Gadol is aroused from the ends of the earth.