Jeremiah 22:21

Bible in Basic English (1941)

My word came to you in the time of your well-being; but you said, I will not give ear. This has been your way from your earliest years, you did not give attention to my voice.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

׃22 21 דִּבַּ֤רְתִּי אֵלַ֙יִךְ֙ בְּשַׁלְוֺתַ֔יִךְ אָמַ֖רְתְּ לֹ֣א אֶשְׁמָ֑ע זֶ֤ה דַרְכֵּךְ֙ מִנְּעוּרַ֔יִךְ כִּ֥י לֹֽא־שָׁמַ֖עַתְּ בְּקוֹלִֽי׃

Transliteration

Dibbartî to you in šalwōtayik, ʾāmart not ʾešmāʿ. This darkēk from nᵉʿûrayik that not šāmaʿat in qôlî.

Grammar Details

• *dibbartî*: perfect, 1st singular, piel - I spoke
• *ʾēlayik*: preposition with 2nd feminine singular suffix - to you
• *bᵉ-šalwōtayik*: preposition + noun, feminine plural with 2nd feminine singular suffix - in your prosperity
• *ʾāmart*: perfect, 2nd feminine singular, qal - you said
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *ʾešmāʿ*: imperfect, 1st singular, qal - I will hear/listen
• *zeh*: demonstrative, masculine singular - this
• *darkēk*: noun, masculine singular with 2nd feminine singular suffix - your way
• *mi-nnᵉʿûrayik*: preposition + noun, masculine plural with 2nd feminine singular suffix - from your youth
• *kî*: conjunction - that/for
• *lōʾ-šāmaʿat*: negative particle + perfect, 2nd feminine singular, qal - you did not listen
• *bᵉ-qôlî*: preposition + noun, masculine singular with 1st singular suffix - to my voice

Word Meanings

• *dibbartî*: I spoke/declared/talked
• *šalwōtayik*: your prosperity/ease/security
• *ʾešmāʿ*: I will hear/listen/obey
• *darkēk*: your way/path/manner
• *nᵉʿûrayik*: your youth/young age
• *šāmaʿat*: you heard/listened/obeyed
• *qôlî*: my voice/sound/utterance

Referenced Verses

• Jer 3:25 : 25 Let us be stretched on the earth in our downfall, covering ourselves with our shame: for we have been sinners against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our earliest years even till this day: and we have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God.
• Jer 32:30 : 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my eyes from their earliest years: the children of Israel have only made me angry with the work of their hands, says the Lord.
• Prov 30:9 : 9 For fear that if I am full, I may be false to you and say, Who is the Lord? or if I am poor, I may become a thief, using the name of my God wrongly.
• Isa 48:8 : 8 Truly you had no word of them, no knowledge of them; no news of them in the past had come to your ears; because I saw how false was your behaviour, and that your heart was turned against me from your earliest days.
• Jer 7:22-28 : 22 For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts: 23 But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you. 24 But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward. 25 From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them: 26 But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers. 27 And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer. 28 And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.
• Ezek 23:3-9 : 3 They were acting like loose women in Egypt; when they were young their behaviour was loose: there their breasts were crushed, even the points of their young breasts were crushed. 4 Their names were Oholah, the older, and Oholibah, her sister: and they became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem, Oholibah. 5 And Oholah was untrue to me when she was mine; she was full of desire for her lovers, even for the Assyrians, her neighbours, 6 Who were clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all of them young men to be desired, horsemen seated on horses. 7 And she gave her unclean love to them, all of them the noblest men of Assyria: and she made herself unclean with the images of all who were desired by her. 8 And she has not given up her loose ways from the time when she was in Egypt; for when she was young they were her lovers, and by them her young breasts were crushed, and they let loose on her their unclean desire. 9 For this cause I gave her up into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians on whom her desire was fixed. 10 By these her shame was uncovered: they took her sons and daughters and put her to death with the sword: and she became a cause of wonder to women; for they gave her the punishment which was right. 11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, but her desire was even more unmeasured, and her loose behaviour was worse than that of her sister. 12 She was full of desire for the Assyrians, captains and rulers, her neighbours, clothed in blue, horsemen going on horses, all of them young men to be desired. 13 And I saw that she had become unclean; the two of them went the same way. 14 And her loose behaviour became worse; for she saw men pictured on a wall, pictures of the Chaldaeans painted in bright red, 15 With bands round their bodies and with head-dresses hanging round their heads, all of them looking like rulers, like the Babylonians, the land of whose birth is Chaldaea. 16 And when she saw them she was full of desire for them, and sent servants to them in Chaldaea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and made her unclean with their loose desire, and she became unclean with them, and her soul was turned from them. 18 So her loose behaviour was clearly seen and her shame uncovered: then my soul was turned from her as it had been turned from her sister. 19 But still she went on the more with her loose behaviour, keeping in mind the early days when she had been a loose woman in the land of Egypt. 20 And she was full of desire for her lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of asses and whose seed is like the seed of horses. 21 And she made the memory of the loose ways of her early years come back to mind, when her young breasts were crushed by the Egyptians. 22 For this cause, O Oholibah, this is what the Lord has said: See, I will make your lovers come up against you, even those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust; and I will make them come up against you on every side; 23 The Babylonians and all the Chaldaeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: young men to be desired, captains and rulers all of them, and chiefs, her neighbours, all of them on horseback. 24 And they will come against you from the north on horseback, with war-carriages and a great band of peoples; they will put themselves in order against you with breastplate and body-cover and metal head-dress round about you: and I will make them your judges, and they will give their decision against you as seems right to them. 25 And my bitter feeling will be working against you, and they will take you in hand with passion; they will take away your nose and your ears, and the rest of you will be put to the sword: they will take your sons and daughters, and the rest of you will be burned up in the fire. 26 And they will take all your clothing off you and take away your ornaments. 27 So I will put an end to your evil ways and your loose behaviour which came from the land of Egypt: and your eyes will never be lifted up to them again, and you will have no more memory of Egypt. 28 For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will give you up into the hands of those who are hated by you, into the hands of those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust: 29 And they will take you in hand with hate, and take away all the fruit of your work, and let you be unveiled and without clothing: and the shame of your loose behaviour will be uncovered, your evil designs and your loose ways. 30 They will do these things to you because you have been untrue to me, and have gone after the nations, and have become unclean with their images. 31 You have gone in the way of your sister; and I will give her cup into your hand. 32 This is what the Lord has said: You will take a drink from your sister's cup, which is deep and wide: you will be laughed at and looked down on, more than you are able to undergo. 33 You will be broken and full of sorrow, with the cup of wonder and destruction, with the cup of your sister Samaria. 34 And after drinking it and draining it out, you will take the last drops of it to the end, pulling off your breasts: for I have said it, says the Lord. 35 So this is what the Lord has said: Because you have not kept me in your memory, and because your back has been turned to me, you will even undergo the punishment of your evil designs and your loose ways. 36 Then the Lord said to me: Son of man, will you be the judge of Oholibah? then make clear to her the disgusting things she has done. 37 For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up. 38 Further, this is what she has done to me: she has made my holy place unclean and has made my Sabbaths unclean. 39 For when she had made an offering of her children to her images, she came into my holy place to make it unclean; see, this is what she has done inside my house.
• Jer 2:31 : 31 O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again?
• Jer 6:16 : 16 This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it.
• Jer 35:15 : 15 And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me.
• Jer 36:21-26 : 21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the book, and he took it from the room of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi gave a reading of it in the hearing of the king and all the rulers who were by the king's side. 22 Now the king was seated in the winter house, and a fire was burning in the fireplace in front of him. 23 And it came about that whenever Jehudi, in his reading, had got through three or four divisions, the king, cutting them with his penknife, put them into the fire, till all the book was burned up in the fire which was burning in the fireplace. 24 But they had no fear and gave no signs of grief, not the king or any of his servants, after hearing all these words. 25 And Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made a strong request to the king not to let the book be burned, but he would not give ear to them. 26 And the king gave orders to Jerahmeel, the king's son, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord kept them safe.
• Ezek 20:8 : 8 But they would not be controlled by me, and did not give ear to me; they did not put away the disgusting things to which their eyes were turned, or give up the images of Egypt: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the land of Egypt.
• Ezek 20:13 : 13 But the children of Israel would not be controlled by me in the waste land: they were not guided by my rules, and they were turned away from my orders, which, if a man does them, will be life to him; and they had no respect for my Sabbaths: then I said that I would let loose my passion on them in the waste land, and put an end to them.
• Ezek 20:21 : 21 But the children would not be controlled by me; they were not guided by my rules, and they did not keep and do my orders, which, if a man does them, will be life to him; and they had no respect for my Sabbaths: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the waste land.
• Ezek 20:28 : 28 For when I had taken them into the land which I made an oath to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every branching tree and made their offerings there, moving me to wrath by their offerings; and there the sweet smell of their offerings went up and their drink offerings were drained out.
• Deut 9:7 : 7 Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.
• Deut 9:24 : 24 From the day when I first had knowledge of you, you have gone against the word of the Lord.
• Deut 31:27 : 27 For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death?
• Deut 32:15-20 : 15 But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation. 16 The honour which was his they gave to strange gods; by their disgusting ways he was moved to wrath. 17 They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers. 18 You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth. 19 And the Lord saw with disgust the evil-doing of his sons and daughters. 20 And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith.
• Judg 2:11-19 : 11 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals; 12 And they gave up the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had taken them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, worshipping them and moving the Lord to wrath. 13 And they gave up the Lord, and became the servants of Baal and the Astartes. 14 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of those who violently took their property, and into the hands of their haters all round them, so that they were forced to give way before them. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them. 16 Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them. 17 But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so. 18 And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them. 19 But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.
• 2 Chr 33:10 : 10 And the word of the Lord came to Manasseh and his people, but they gave no attention.
• 2 Chr 36:16-17 : 16 But they put shame on the servants of God, making sport of his words and laughing at his prophets, till the wrath of God was moved against his people, till there was no help. 17 So he sent against them the king of the Chaldaeans, who put their young men to death with the sword in the house of their holy place, and had no pity for any, young man or virgin, old man or white-haired: God gave them all into his hands.
• Neh 9:16-37 : 16 But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders, 17 And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up. 18 Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry; 19 Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go. 20 And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher, and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it. 21 Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired. 22 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land: so they took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. 23 And you made their children as great in number as the stars of heaven, and took them into the land, of which you had said to their fathers that they were to go in and take it for themselves. 24 So the children went in and took the land, and you overcame before them the people of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them up into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them whatever it was their pleasure to do. 25 And they took walled towns and a fat land, and became the owners of houses full of all good things, water-holes cut in the rock, vine-gardens and olive-gardens and a wealth of fruit-trees: so they had food enough and became fat, and had joy in the good you gave them. 26 But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority, turning their backs on your law, and putting to death your prophets, who gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you, and they did much to make you angry. 27 And so you gave them up into the hands of their haters who were cruel to them: and in the time of their trouble, when they made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; and in your great mercy gave them saviours, who made them free from the hands of their haters. 28 But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation; 29 And gave witness against them so that you might make them come back again to your law: but their hearts were lifted up, and they gave no attention to your orders and went against your decisions (which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him), and turning their backs on you, made their necks stiff and did not give ear. 30 Year after year you put up with them, and gave witness against them by your spirit through your prophets: still they did not give ear: and so you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands. 31 Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace and mercy. 32 And now, our God, the great, the strong, the God who is to be feared, who keeps faith and mercy, let not all this trouble seem small to you, which has come on us, and on our kings and our rulers and on our priests and our prophets and our fathers and on all your people from the time of the kings of Assyria till this day. 33 But still, you have been in the right in everything which has come on us; you have been true to us, but we have done evil: 34 And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or given attention to your orders and your witness, with which you gave witness against them. 35 For they have not been your servants in their kingdom, and in all the good things you gave them, and in the great and fat land you gave them, and they have not been turned away from their evil-doing. 36 Now, today, we are servants, and as for the land which you gave to our fathers, so that the produce of it and the good might be theirs, see, we are servants in it: 37 And it gives much increase to the kings whom you have put over us because of our sins: and they have power over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great trouble.
• Ps 106:6-9 : 6 We are sinners like our fathers, we have done wrong, our acts are evil. 7 Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea. 8 But he was their saviour because of his name, so that men might see his great power. 9 By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land. 10 And he took them safely out of the hands of their haters, and kept them from the attacks of those who were against them. 11 And the waters went over their haters; all of them came to an end. 12 Then they had faith in his words; they gave him songs of praise. 13 But their memory of his works was short; not waiting to be guided by him, 14 They gave way to their evil desires in the waste land, and put God to the test in the dry places. 15 And he gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease into their souls. 16 They were full of envy against Moses among the tents, and against Aaron, the holy one of the Lord. 17 The earth opening put an end to Dathan, covering up Abiram and his band. 18 And a fire was lighted among their tents; the sinners were burned up by the flames. 19 They made a young ox in Horeb, and gave worship to an image of gold. 20 And their glory was changed into the image of an ox, whose food is grass. 21 They had no memory of God their saviour, who had done great things in Egypt; 22 Works of wonder in the land of Ham, and things of fear by the Red Sea. 23 And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction. 24 They were disgusted with the good land; they had no belief in his word; 25 Talking against him secretly in their tents, they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord. 26 So he made an oath against them, to put an end to them in the waste land: 27 That their children might be mixed among the nations, and sent away into other lands. 28 And they were joined to Baal-peor, and took part in the offerings to the dead. 29 So they made him angry by their behaviour; and he sent disease on them. 30 Then Phinehas got up, and made prayer for them; and the disease went no farther. 31 And all the generations coming after him kept the memory of his righteousness for ever. 32 They made God angry again at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled because of them; 33 For they made his spirit bitter, and he said unwise things. 34 They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said; 35 But they were joined to the nations, learning their works. 36 And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them: 37 They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits, 38 And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood. 39 So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires. 40 Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage. 41 And he gave them into the hands of the nations; and they were ruled by their haters. 42 By them they were crushed, and made low under their hands. 43 Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins. 44 But when their cry came to his ears, he had pity on their trouble: 45 And kept in mind his agreement with them, and in his great mercy gave them forgiveness. 46 He put pity into the hearts of those who made them prisoners. 47 Be our saviour, O Lord our God, and let us come back together from among the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name, and have glory in your praise. 48 Praise be to the Lord God of Israel for ever and for ever; and let all the people say, So be it. Give praise to the Lord.