Jeremiah 6:16

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses the people of Judah through Jeremiah, in a context where they show no shame for their abominations (v.15) and refuse to heed watchmen (v.17). The command is direct: stop, look, ask, walk.

The words — דֶּרֶךְ (derek, "road/path") appears in plural (dərākhîm), and the imperative שְׁאֲלוּ (sha'ālû, "ask!") drives the verse's action. The road is not new; the people are told to seek the old one.

The thread — Deuteronomy 32:7 commands the same act of asking the fathers and elders; Isaiah 30:21 frames the way as a voice heard behind the one who turns; Jeremiah 18:15 identifies the abandoned road as "the good way."

Why it lands — The verse names both the command and the refusal in the same breath, placing the reader in the gap between the two. Rest for the soul is offered on one condition: walking the path that was already there.

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

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Cross-references

Isaiah 30:21 And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
Jeremiah 18:15 Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.
Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Jeremiah 7:23 but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.
Colossians 2:6 Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,
Isaiah 2:5 Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Jeremiah 18:12 But they will reply, ‘It is hopeless. We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
Jeremiah 22:21 I warned you when you were secure. You said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from youth, that you have not obeyed My voice.