Jeremiah 13:23

Jeremiah 13:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
• New International Version (NIV)Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Context of Jeremiah 13:23

21What will you say [O Jerusalem] when the Lord appoints [foreign nations to rule] over you— Those former friends and allies whom you have encouraged [to be your companions]— Will not pain seize you Like [that of] a woman in childbirth? 22And if you [wonder and] say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ It is because of the greatness and nature of your sin That your skirts have been pulled away [subjecting you to public disgrace] And [like a barefoot slave] your heels have been wounded. Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to evil and even trained to do it. 24Therefore I will scatter you like drifting straw [Driven away] by the desert wind. 25This is your destiny, the portion [of judgment] measured to you From Me,” says the Lord, “Because you have forgotten Me And trusted in [pagan] lies [the counterfeit gods, and the pretense of alliance].”

Jeremiah 13:23 word by word

הֲיַהֲפֹ֤ךְ כּוּשִׁי֙ עוֹר֔וֹ וְנָמֵ֖ר חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָ֑יו גַּם־אַתֶּם֙ תּוּכְל֣וּ לְהֵיטִ֔יב לִמֻּדֵ֖י הָרֵֽעַ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Can the Ethiopianכּוּשִׁיkûshîy · EthiopianH3569
• changeהָפַךְhâphak · to overturnH2015
• his skinעוֹר‛ôr · skinH5785
• or the leopardנָמֵרnâmêr · leopardH5246
• his spotsחֲבַרְבֻּרָהchăbarbûrâh · spotH2272
• mayיָכֹלyâkôl yâkôl · be ableH3201
• ye also do goodיָטַבyâţab · be goodH3190
• that are accustomedלִמֻּדlimmûd limmûd · discipleH3928
• to do evilרָעַעrâ‛a‛ · be evilH7489

Cross-references for Jeremiah 13:23

• Jeremiah 2:22For though you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is [still] before Me [and you are soiled and dirty],” says the Lord God.
• Jeremiah 5:3O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You [have seen their faithless heart and] have stricken them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction or instruction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent and return to You.
• Jeremiah 6:29The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; In vain they continue refining, But the wicked are not separated and removed.
• Jeremiah 17:9“The heart is deceitful above all things And it is extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?
• Proverbs 27:22Even though you pound a [hardened, arrogant] fool [who rejects wisdom] in a mortar with a pestle like grain, Yet his foolishness will not leave him.
• Isaiah 1:5Why should you be stricken and punished again [since no change results from it]? You [only] continue to rebel. The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint and sick.
• Matthew 19:24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man [who places his faith in wealth and status] to enter the kingdom of God.”
• Jeremiah 9:5Everyone deceives and mocks his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They exhaust themselves with sin and cruelty.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 13:23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23Can the Ethiopian change his skin - Can a black, at his own pleasure, change the color of his skin? Can the leopard at will change the variety of his spots? These things are natural to them, and they cannot be altered; so sin, and especially your attachment to idolatry, is become a second nature; and we may as well expect the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots, as you to do good, who have been accustomed to do evil. It is a matter of…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23This verse answers the question, May not Judah avert this calamity by repentance? No: because her sins are too inveterate. By the Ethiopian (Hebrew: Cushite) is meant not the Cushite of Arabia but of Africa, i. e., the negro.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-27Verses 18-27 Here is a message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen. Their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, Wherefore come these things upon us? Let them know, it is for their obstinacy in sin. We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23the Ethiopian: People cannot choose their skin color, just like a leopard cannot choose its spots. Similarly, God's people were born trapped by evil. They could not change by themselves and refused to let the Lord change them.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. Ethiopian--the Cushite of Abyssinia. Habit is second nature; as therefore it is morally impossible that the Jews can alter their inveterate habits of sin, nothing remains but the infliction of the extremest punishment, their expatriation (Jr 13:24).Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 13:23

• Character
• Depravity of Man
• Ethiopia
• Idolatry
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning
• Leopard
• Regeneration

In the dictionaries

• Ethiopian
• Ethiopia, Ethiopian
• Appear
• Ethiopia
• Leopard
• Pity
• Principality
• Change
• Cushite Woman; Ethiopian Woman
• Hosea

Commentaries on Jeremiah 13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings