American Standard Version
Jeremiah 13:23
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
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 wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail? 22And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. 24Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away, by the wind of the wilderness. 25This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from me, saith Jehovah; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
Read all of Jeremiah 13Jeremiah 13:23 word by word
הֲיַהֲפֹ֤ךְ כּוּשִׁי֙ עוֹר֔וֹ וְנָמֵ֖ר חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָ֑יו גַּם־אַתֶּם֙ תּוּכְל֣וּ לְהֵיטִ֔יב לִמֻּדֵ֖י הָרֵֽעַ׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Jeremiah 13:23
- Jeremiah 2:22For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
- Jeremiah 5:3O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
- Jeremiah 6:29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
- Proverbs 27:22Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with bruised grain, Yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
- Isaiah 1:5Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Matthew 19:24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
- Jeremiah 9:5And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
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
In the dictionaries
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
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries