New King James Version
Jeremiah 5:21
21‘Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not:
Jeremiah 5:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
- New International Version (NIV)Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.
Context of Jeremiah 5:21
19And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’ 20“Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying, ‘Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not: 22Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. 23But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed.
Read all of Jeremiah 5Jeremiah 5:21 word by word
שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֣א זֹ֔את עַ֥ם סָכָ֖ל וְאֵ֣ין לֵ֑ב עֵינַ֤יִם לָהֶם֙ וְלֹ֣א יִרְא֔וּ אָזְנַ֥יִם לָהֶ֖ם וְלֹ֥א יִשְׁמָֽעוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 5:21
- Jeremiah 5:4Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the Lord, The judgment of their God.
- Jeremiah 4:22“For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”
- Jeremiah 8:7“Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
- Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.
- Deuteronomy 29:4Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
- Deuteronomy 32:6Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?
- Psalms 94:8Understand, you senseless among the people; And you fools, when will you be wise?
- Isaiah 6:9And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
- Isaiah 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off; The women come and set them on fire. For it is a people of no understanding; Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, And He who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isaiah 44:18They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand.
- Ezekiel 12:1Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
- Matthew 13:13Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
- John 12:40“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”
- Acts 28:26saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
- Romans 11:8Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
- Proverbs 17:16Why is there in the hand of a fool the purchase price of wisdom, Since he has no heart for it?
Commentaries on Jeremiah 5:21
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20-31Verses 20-31 Against the God (1) of Creation Jeremiah 5:22, and (2) of Providence Jeremiah 5:24, They sin, not merely by apostasy, but by a general immorality extending to all classes Jeremiah 5:25-28. It is in this immorality that their idolatry has its root. Jeremiah 5:22 The sea is the symbol of restless and indomitable energy, chafing against all resistance, and dashing to pieces the works whereby man endeavors to restrain its fury. Yet God has…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 19-31Verses 19-31 Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree, that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst all restraints of God's law, and were wholly gone into…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-21in the house of Jacob: In the Old Testament, "Jacob" and "Israel" are often used interchangeably. They can refer to the patriarch or the nation. To be foolish means to act rashly and immorally, ignoring consequences. senseless: This literally means no heart. When "heart" is negative, it means a person or group does not want to do moral acts and rejects intelligent behavior that pleases God. The people's ears and eyes worked (see study note on Jeremiah…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. eyes ... ears, and--Translate, "and yet" (compare De 29:4; Is 6:9). Having powers of perception, they did not use them: still they were responsible for the exercise of them.Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 5:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 5
- 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries