Bible Strands
Jeremiah 13:23
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to Judah, addressing them immediately after describing their stripped skirts and exposed bodies in the preceding verse. The oracle confronts the people with a rhetorical question about their moral incapacity.
The words — The term כּוּשִׁי (ku.Shi) denotes a Cushite, while חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָיו (cha.var.bu.ro.Ta/v) refers to the leopard’s spots. These concrete images ground the rhetorical question in observable natural impossibility.
The thread — This motif of inherent moral stain parallels Jeremiah 2:22, which states that washing with lye cannot remove guilt, and mirrors the structural logic of Matthew 19:24 regarding impossible human tasks. The theme of entrenched sin appears alongside the betrayal and deceit described in Jeremiah 9:5.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that neither the Ethiopian nor the leopard can change their markings, and declares that the people cannot do good because they are accustomed to evil. It requires the reader to abandon reliance on self-reform and recognize that habitual sin has fixed their moral trajectory.
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
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:22 Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.
- Jeremiah 9:5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity.
- Matthew 19:24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
- Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Jeremiah 2:30 “I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
- Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
- Proverbs 27:22 Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.
- Isaiah 1:5 Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Jeremiah 6:29 The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.