Bible Strands
Jeremiah 19:4
because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in this place to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses the kings of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, delivering a proclamation of impending disaster on the city (Jeremiah 19:3). The message confronts the ongoing religious corruption and idolatry that has defiled the sacred space.
The words — The Hebrew term עֲזָבֻ֗/נִי ('a.za.Vu./ni) literally means "they have forsaken," while וַֽ/יְנַכְּר֞וּ (va/y.na.ke.Ru) translates to "they have treated as foreign," both describing the people's active rejection of God and their desecration of the place.
The thread — The charge of defiling the space with idolatry and bloodshed connects to the indictment in Jeremiah 2:34 regarding the innocent poor, while the historical parallel of Manasseh filling Jerusalem with innocent blood appears in 2 Kings 21:16. The resulting divine judgment aligns with the curses, confusion, and destruction warned of in Deuteronomy 28:20.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that persistent idolatry and violence permanently corrupt a consecrated location, provoking direct divine judgment rather than mere disapproval. It requires readers to acknowledge that abandoning divine instruction and introducing foreign worship actively dismantles the community's spiritual and physical foundation.
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
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:34 Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things
- Deuteronomy 28:20 The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him.
- 2 Kings 21:16 Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Isaiah 65:11 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
- 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,
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- 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 24:4 and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.
- Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.