Bible Strands
Jeremiah 7:26
Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to Judah, summarizing the continuous prophetic warnings delivered from the Exodus until the present moment. The declaration occurs during a period of national crisis when repeated calls to repentance have been uniformly rejected.
The words — וַיַּקְשׁוּ (va/i.yak.Shu) translates literally as "and they stiffened," describing the physical posture of a stubborn animal. This verb captures the deliberate, physical refusal to submit to divine instruction.
The thread — The text links this rebellion to Jeremiah 7:24 and 16:12, where similar language describes generational covenant unfaithfulness. 2 Chronicles 30:8 explicitly warns against adopting this exact posture, establishing a continuous scriptural pattern.
Why it lands — The passage states that persistent divine patience does not excuse repeated disobedience. It requires the reader to confront personal resistance to correction rather than assume historical distance from the warning.
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 they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 16:12 And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.
- 2 Chronicles 30:8 Now do not stiffen your necks as your fathers did. Submit to the LORD and come to His sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that His fierce anger will turn away from you.
- Jeremiah 7:24 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
- Jeremiah 17:23 Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.
- Jeremiah 19:15 “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and on all the villages around it every disaster I have pronounced against them, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’”
- Matthew 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.
- 2 Kings 17:14 But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God.
- 2 Chronicles 33:10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.
- Nehemiah 9:16 But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.
- Nehemiah 9:29 You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They turned a stubborn shoulder; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.