Bible Strands
Jeremiah 3:5
Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses faithless Israel, responding directly to the rhetorical question they just posed about His enduring anger. He speaks this during a prophetic confrontation that immediately precedes His recounting of their idolatrous practices.
The words — הִנֵּ֥ה (hi.Neh) = here/behold and דִבַּ֛רְתְּ (di.bar.ti) = you spoke mark the pivot from Israel’s verbal claim to their continued actions.
The thread — The contrast between spoken appeals for mercy and God’s actual restraint runs through Isaiah 57:16 and Jeremiah 3:12. Ezekiel 22:6 echoes the surrounding context of persistent rebellion that provokes divine inquiry.
Why it lands — The verse demands readers confront the disconnect between verbal confession and practiced disobedience, noting that rhetorical questions about God’s patience do not nullify the reality of ongoing sin.
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
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 57:16 For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—the breath of life I have made.
- Jeremiah 3:12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
- Ezekiel 22:6 See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
- Micah 2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
- Micah 7:3 Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
- Psalms 77:7 “Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- Psalms 85:5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
- Psalms 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
- Isaiah 64:9 Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
- Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!