Jeremiah 4:1

Jeremiah 4:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
• New International Version (NIV)“If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,
• English Standard Version (ESV)"If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver,
• New King James Version (NKJV)“If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved.

Context of Jeremiah 4:1

“If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord, “if you want to come back to me you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray. 2You must be truthful, honest and upright when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ If you do, the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are and will make him the object of their boasting.” 3Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

Jeremiah 4:1 word by word

אִם־תָּשׁ֨וּב יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל׀ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֛ה אֵלַ֖י תָּשׁ֑וּב וְאִם־תָּסִ֧יר שִׁקּוּצֶ֛יךָ מִפָּנַ֖י וְלֹ֥א תָנֽוּד׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• If thou wilt returnשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
• O Israelיִשְׂרָאֵלyiώrâ'êl · IsraelH3478
• saithנְאֻםne'ûm · utteranceH5002
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• unto me: and if thou wilt put awayסוּרsûr ώûr · to turn aside: removeH5493
• thine abominationsשִׁקּוּץshiqqûts shiqqûts · abominationH8251
• out of my sightפָּנֶהpânîym · faceH6440
• then shalt thou not removeנוּדnûd · to wanderH5110

Cross-references for Jeremiah 4:1

• Jeremiah 4:4Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done.”
• Jeremiah 3:12“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them, ‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry with you forever.
• Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the Lord.
• Isaiah 31:6You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!
• Hosea 7:16They turn to Baal; they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.
• Hosea 14:1Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sin has been your downfall!
• Joel 2:12“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments!”
• Genesis 35:2So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.
• Deuteronomy 27:15‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
• Joshua 24:14Now obey the Lord and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord.
• Judges 10:16They threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much.
• 1 Samuel 7:3Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
• 2 Kings 23:13The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.
• 2 Chronicles 15:8When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged. He removed the detestable idols from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had seized in the Ephraimite hill country. He repaired the altar of the Lord in front of the porch of the Lord’s temple.
• Ezekiel 11:18“When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.
• Ezekiel 18:13engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. He will bear the responsibility for his own death.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 4:1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1Shalt thou not remove - This was spoken before the Babylonish captivity; and here is a promise that if they will return from their idolatry, they shall not be led into captivity. So, even that positively threatened judgment would have been averted had they returned to the Lord.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1Return - The repentance of Israel described in Jeremiah 3:21-25 was a hope, and not a reality. The return, literally, would be their restoration to their land; spiritually, their abandoning their sins. Jeremiah 4:1-2 should be translated as follows: If thou wouldst return, O Israel, saith Yahweh. Unto Me thou shalt return: And if thou wouldst remove thy abominations from before Me, And not wander to and fro, But wouldst swear truly, uprightly; and justly…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1Exhortations and promises. (Jr 4:1-2) Judah exhorted to repentance. (Jr 4:3-4) Judgements denounced. (Jr 4:5-18) The approaching ruin of Judah. (Jr 4:19-31) Verse 1 ,2 The first two verses should be read with the last chapter. Sin must be put away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of God's sight, for the heart is open before him.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1The Lord noticed that even though the people prayed beautifully, they did not plan to discard their idols or change their way of living (Jeremiah 15:19; Joel 2:12).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-311. return ... return--play on words. "If thou wouldest return to thy land (thou must first), return (by conversion and repentance) to Me." not remove--no longer be an unsettled wanderer in a strange land. So Cain (Ge 4:12, 14).Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 4:1

• Backsliders
• Condescension of God
• Repentance

In the dictionaries

• Israel
• Israel, Israelites
• Jacob, Israel
• Bless
• Fallow
• Pain
• Wise
• Abomination
• Abomination of Desolation
• Backslide

Commentaries on Jeremiah 4

• 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