Bible Strands
Jeremiah 5:4
Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah speaks to God after observing Judah’s hardened refusal to accept divine discipline, immediately before he resolves to confront the nation’s leaders.
The words — דַּלִּים (da.Lim) = poor [people] and נוֹאֲל֕וּ (no.'a.Lu) = they have acted foolishly.
The thread — The connection between rejected knowledge and destruction runs through Hosea 4:6, while the pattern of addressing those considered unteachable appears in Isaiah 28:9.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to abandon the assumption that spiritual blindness stems from poverty and to confront the reality that willful ignorance of God’s way impacts all social strata.
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
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 8:7 Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
- Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
- Isaiah 28:9 Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?
- Matthew 11:5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- Isaiah 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Jeremiah 7:8 But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
- John 7:48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?