Bible Strands
Jeremiah 7:9
Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah in the temple court, confronting a community that relies on ritual presence while continuing in systemic sin. The prophet delivers this indictment immediately after warning against deceptive words and just before noting their hypocritical claim of deliverance.
The words — The Hebrew הָלֹךְ (halokh) literally means "to walk," describing the continuous act of following foreign deities. The phrase לַשֶּׁקֶר (lasher) translates directly to "to falsehood," modifying the oath taken in perjury.
The thread — This condemnation of idolatry and covenant violation echoes the Decalogue’s prohibition against other gods (Exodus 20:3) and repeats Jeremiah’s earlier charge regarding innocent bloodshed (Jeremiah 7:6). The pattern of burning incense to Baal recurs in Jeremiah 11:13 as a marker of national apostasy.
Why it lands — The text states that temple attendance cannot override moral and spiritual fidelity. Readers must acknowledge that claiming divine protection while practicing the listed sins constitutes self-deception rather than covenant security.
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 ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
- Jeremiah 7:6 if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,
- Jeremiah 11:13 Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
- Jeremiah 11:17 The LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you on account of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”
- James 4:1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
- 1 Kings 18:21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
- Romans 2:2 And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
- Galatians 5:19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Revelation 22:15 But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.