Bible Strands
Jeremiah 25:7
‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks this declaration to Judah and Jerusalem as Jeremiah delivers a final warning before the announced judgment. The utterance occurs in the context of a repeated call to cease idolatry and return to covenant obedience.
The words — The text emphasizes שְׁמַעְתֶּם (she.ma'.Tem), meaning "you have listened," and הַכְעִיסֵֽנִי (hikh.'i.su./ni), meaning "to provoke Me to anger." These terms establish the direct causal link between the people’s refusal to hear God and their self-inflicted harm.
The thread — The theme of provoking divine anger through idolatry runs through 2 Kings 21:15 and Deuteronomy 32:21, where persistent rebellion triggers judgment. The warning that rejecting divine instruction harms the self parallels the motif in Proverbs 8:36.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to prioritize auditory obedience over visible human works. It demands recognition that ignoring God’s commands actively generates the consequences the text describes.
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
Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 21:15 because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”
- Proverbs 8:36 But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
- Deuteronomy 32:21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
- 2 Kings 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Nehemiah 9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
- Jeremiah 7:18 The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.
- Jeremiah 32:30 For the children of Israel and of Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, they have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD.