Bible Strands
Jeremiah 11:13
Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to the people of Judah and Jerusalem during a period of impending national disaster. The prophet addresses the nation directly as their idolatrous practices reach their peak.
The words — The Hebrew מִסְפַּר (mispar) means "number" or "count," stressing the exact numerical match between false gods and cities. The term חֻצוֹת (chutsoth) translates literally to "streets," showing how pagan worship has filled public urban space.
The thread — This pattern of idolatry scaling with population appears in Jeremiah 2:28, where God questions the utility of self-made deities. It aligns with the desecration of high places in 2 Kings 23:13 and the provocation of foreign gods in Deuteronomy 32:16.
Why it lands — The text states that widespread cultural compromise has replaced exclusive devotion to Yahweh. It requires a reader to recognize how normalized sin becomes when religious practice mirrors civic infrastructure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
- 2 Kings 23:13 The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
- Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
- 2 Kings 21:4 Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”
- 2 Kings 23:4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
- Isaiah 2:8 Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
- Jeremiah 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 3:24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
- Jeremiah 7:9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,
- Jeremiah 19:5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.