Jeremiah 7:23
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you.
American King James Version (AKJV)
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you.
American Standard Version (ASV)
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you.
Webster's Revision
But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well to you.
World English Bible
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
English Revised Version (ERV)
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
Clarke's Jeremiah 7:23 Bible Commentary
This thing commanded I them - Obey my voice - It was not sacrifices and oblations which I required of your fathers in the wilderness, but obedience; it was to walk in that way of righteousness which I have commanded; then I should have acknowledged them for my people, and I should have been their God, and then it would have been well with them. But to my commands,
1. They hearkened not - paid no regard to my word.
2. They inclined not the ear - showed no disposition to attend to my counsels.
3. They walked in the imaginations of their evil heart - followed its irregular and impure motions, rather than the holy dictates of my Spirit.
4. They went backward and not forward. Instead of becoming more wise, obedient, and holy, they grew more corrupt; so that they became more profligate than their fathers.
Barnes's Jeremiah 7:23 Bible Commentary
Obey ... - These words are not found verbatim in the Pentateuch, but are a sum mary of its principles. Sacrifice is never the final cause of the covenant, but always obedience (Exodus 19:5-6; Leviticus 11:45. Compare Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 11, in which the moral object of the Mosaic dispensation is most clearly taught). In connection with Jeremiah's argument, notice that Amos 5:25 (taken in conjunction with Joshua 5:2-7) proves that the ceremonial law was not observed during the 40 years' wandering in the wilderness. A thing so long in abeyance in the very time of its founder, could not be of primary importance.