Bible Strands
Jeremiah 9:6
You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Israel, condemning their communal environment of falsehood. This declaration immediately follows Jeremiah’s observation that the people consistently betray friends, withhold truth, and train their tongues to lie.
The words — The Hebrew מִרְמָה (mir.Mah) translates to "deceit," while מֵאֲנוּ (me.'a.Nu) means "they have refused." These terms describe a deliberate, entrenched posture rather than a momentary lapse.
The thread — This pattern of refusing God’s knowledge appears in Hosea 4:6, where rejection of knowledge triggers divine rejection, and Job 21:14, where the wicked explicitly demand God leave them alone. Jeremiah 13:10 similarly records evil people refusing to listen to God’s words.
Why it lands — The text states that communal deceit actively blocks relational knowledge of God. It requires the reader to examine whether their daily environment or habits cultivate refusal rather than pursuit of divine truth.
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
Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 13:10 These evil people, who refuse to listen to My words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who go after other gods to serve and worship them, they will be like this loincloth—of no use at all.
- 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.
- Job 21:14 Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
- Proverbs 1:24 Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
- Proverbs 1:29 For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
- Jeremiah 5:27 Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.
- Jeremiah 8:5 Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
- Jeremiah 11:19 For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”
- Jeremiah 20:10 For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”
- John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.