Jeremiah 9:6

Easy-to-Read Version

One bad thing followed another, and lies followed lies. The people refused to know me." This is what the Lord said.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You live in a world of deception.In their deception they refuse to know me.

Hebrew Names Version
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD.

King James Version
Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord .

English Standard Version
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord .

New American Standard Bible
"Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.

New Century Version
Jeremiah, you live in the middle of lies. With their lies the people refuse to know me," says the Lord .

Amplified Bible
"Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me," says the LORD.

World English Bible
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thine habitation is in the middes of deceiuers: because of their deceit they refuse to know me, sayth the Lord.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares Yahweh.

Berean Standard Bible
You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.

Contemporary English Version
Everyone takes advantage of everyone else, and no one will admit that I am God.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Therefore," says Adonai -Tzva'ot, "I will refine them and test them. What else can I do with the daughter of my people?

Darby Translation
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.

George Lamsa Translation
Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through their deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD.

Lexham English Bible
Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit, upon deceit they refuse to know me," declares Yahweh.

Literal Translation
Your home is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, says Jehovah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They haue set their stole in the myddest of disceate, and (for very dissemblinge falsede) they wil not knowe me, saieth the LORDE.

American Standard Version
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English
There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: behold, I will smelt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of My people?

King James Version (1611)
Thine habitation is in the middest of deceit, through deceit they refuse to know me, sayth the Lord.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou sittest in the middes of a deceiptfull people, which for very dissembling falshood wyll not knowe me, saith the Lorde.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
There is usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit: they would not know me, saith the Lord.

English Revised Version
Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thi dwellyng is in the myddis of gile; in gile thei forsoken to knowe me, seith the Lord.

Update Bible Version
Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit; they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy habitation [is] in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

New English Translation
They do one act of violence after another, and one deceitful thing after another. They refuse to pay attention to me," says the Lord .

New King James Version
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD.

New Living Translation
They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge me," says the Lord .

New Life Bible
You live in the center of false ways. In their false ways they are not willing to know Me," says the Lord.

New Revised Standard
Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the Lord .

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thy dwelling, is in the midst of deceit, - Through deceit, have they rejected the knowledge of, me, Declareth Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: through deceit they have refused to know me, saith the Lord.

Revised Standard Version
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, says the LORD.

Young's Literal Translation
thy dwelling [is] in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.

Contextual Overview

¹ If my head were filled with water, and if my eyes were a fountain of tears, I would cry day and night for my people who have been destroyed. ² If only I had a place in the desert— a house where travelers spend the night— so I could leave my people. I could go away from them, because they are all unfaithful to God. They have all turned against him. ³ "They use their tongues like a bow; lies fly from their mouths like arrows. Lies, not truth, have grown strong in this land. They go from one sin to another. They don't know me." This is what the Lord said. ⁴ "Watch your neighbors! Don't trust your own brothers, because every brother is a cheat. Every neighbor talks behind your back. ⁵ Everyone lies to their neighbor. No one speaks the truth. The people of Judah have taught their tongues to lie. They sinned until they were too tired to come back. ⁶ One bad thing followed another, and lies followed lies. The people refused to know me." This is what the Lord said. ⁷ So the Lord All-Powerful says, "A worker heats metal in a fire to test it and see if it is pure. I will test the people of Judah like that. I have no other choice. My people have sinned. ⁸ The people of Judah have tongues as sharp as arrows. Their mouths speak lies. They all speak kindly to their neighbors, but they are secretly planning ways to attack them. ⁹ Should I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?" This message is from the Lord . "You know I should punish a nation such as this. I should give it the punishment it deserves." ¹⁰ I, Jeremiah, will cry for the mountains. I will sing a funeral song for the empty fields, because all the animals were taken away. No one travels there now. The sounds of cattle cannot be heard. The birds have flown away, and the animals are gone.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

habitation: Jeremiah 11:19, Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 20:10, Psalms 120:2-6

refuse: Jeremiah 13:10, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Proverbs 1:24, Proverbs 1:29, Hosea 4:6, John 3:19, John 3:20, Romans 1:28, 1 Corinthians 15:34

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:14 - he refuseth Exodus 16:28 - General Psalms 10:7 - and deceit Psalms 95:10 - and they Psalms 120:5 - Woe Jeremiah 8:5 - they hold Ezekiel 5:6 - for they Hosea 5:4 - and Hosea 6:7 - they dealt John 7:28 - whom 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - that know

Cross-References

Genesis 4:14
You are forcing me to leave the land, and I will not be able to be near you or have a home! Now I must wander from place to place, and anyone I meet could kill me."

Genesis 5:1
This is the history of Adam's family. When God created people, he made them like himself.

Genesis 9:2
Every animal on earth, every bird in the air, every animal that crawls on the ground, and every fish in the sea will be afraid of you. All of them will be under your control.

Genesis 9:3
In the past, I gave you the green plants to eat. Now every animal will also be food for you. I give you everything on earth—it is yours.

Genesis 9:5
Also, I will demand your blood for your lives. That is, I will demand the life of any person or animal that takes a human life.

Genesis 9:6
"God made humans to be like himself. So whoever kills a person must be killed by another person.

Genesis 9:12
And God said, "I will give you something to prove that I made this promise to you. It will continue forever to show that I have made an agreement with you and every living thing on earth.

Genesis 9:14
When I bring clouds over the earth, you will see the rainbow in the clouds.

Genesis 9:26
Noah also said, "May the Lord , the God of Shem, be praised! May Canaan be Shem's slave.

Genesis 9:27
May God give more land to Japheth. May God live in Shem's tents, and may Canaan be their slave."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit,.... In the midst of a people of deceit, as Kimchi and Ben Molech. These are the words of the Lord to the prophet, showing what a people he dwelt among, and had to do with; how cautiously and prudently he should act; how little they were to be trusted to and depended upon; and what little hope there was of bringing them to true repentance, since there was so much deceit and hypocrisy among them. The Targum interprets the words not of the habitation of the prophet, but of the people, thus,

"they sit in the house of their own congregation, and talk of their iniquities deceitfully;''

and so Jarchi,

"while they are sitting they devise deceitful devices.''

Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord: or, "because of deceit" t; hypocrisy being a reigning and governing sin in them; they liked not the true knowledge of God, and refused to worship him according to the revelation of his will.

t במרמה "ob dolum", Schmidt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

From their punishment the prophet now turns to their sins.

Jeremiah 9:2

The prophet utters the wish that he might be spared his daily striving, and in some lone wilderness give way to his sorrow, without restraint.

A lodging place - It was usual to build in the desert, either by private charity or at the public expense, caravanserais, to receive travelers for a single night, who had however to bring their own supplies with them.

An assembly - Or, a gang.

Treacherous - Faithless toward one another.

Jeremiah 9:3

Rather, “And they bend their tongue to be their bow of lies, i. e.” just as men before a battle get their bows ready, so they of set purpose make ready to do mischief, only their arrows are lying words: “neither do they rule faithfully in the land, i. e.” Judaea.

Jeremiah 9:4

In a state of such utter lawlessness, the bonds of mutual confidence are relaxed, and suspicion takes its place.

Utterly supplant - An allusion to the name of Jacob Genesis 27:36. It might be rendered, “every brother is a thorough Jacob.”

Will walk with slanders - Or, slandereth.

Jeremiah 9:6

A continuation of the warning given in Jeremiah 9:4. “Trust no one: for thou dwellest surrounded by deceit on every side.” Their rejection of God is the result of their want of honesty in their dealings with one another 1 John 4:20.

Jeremiah 9:7

I will melt them, and try them - The punishment is corrective rather than retributive. The terms used are those of the refiner of metals, the first being the smelting to separate the pure metal from the ore; the second the testing to see whether the metal is pure, or still mixed with alloy. God will put the nation into the crucible of tribulation, that whatever is evil being consumed in the fire, all there is in them of good may be purified.

For how shall I do ... - Rather, “for how” else could I act with reference to the “daughter of my people?”

Jeremiah 9:8

An arrow shot out - Rather, “a murderous arrow.”

In heart he layeth his wait - Rather, “inwardly he layeth his ambush.”