Jeremiah 6

The Assayer and the Rejected Silver

Jerusalem is told to flee, to turn back to the old paths, and to hear the watchmen; she refuses all three, and the prophet's long testing of the people ends with the verdict that nothing in them can be refined.

Josiah’s reign (626–608 B.C. by the Bible Dictionary). The chapter gives no date of its own. Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Jeremiah 6 is the last of the six chapters the Bible Dictionary assigns to “the reign of Josiah (626–608).”

Jeremiah 6 is the last of the six chapters the Bible Dictionary assigns to “the reign of Josiah (626–608).” It carries no date of its own, so nothing in it can be pinned to a year inside that reign. The Church's chapter heading sums it up: “Jerusalem will be destroyed because of her iniquity—She will be overrun by a great and cruel nation.”

It is a sequence of warnings in five movements. Verses 1–8 sound the alarm and describe the siege to come. Verses 9–15 turn to the people's leaders, who bandage the city's wound and call it peace. Verses 16–21 record three refusals: of the old paths, of the watchmen, and of the Lord's law, with sacrifices offered in place of obedience. Verses 22–26 describe the nation that is coming. Verses 27–30 end on an image from the smelter's shop: Jeremiah is set to test the people as an assayer tests ore, and the result is “reprobate silver.”

The enemy is never named here. The chapter picks up the “seething pot” “toward the north” of Jer. 1:13–15 and shows it moving. Verses 12–15 appear again almost word for word in Jer. 8:10–12.

The thread through the chapter

The chapter's thread is refusal after every kind of warning. The Lord has sent a trumpet (verses 1, 17), a prophet who tests (verse 27), and a path already known (verse 16).

The chapter's thread is refusal after every kind of warning. The Lord has sent a trumpet (verses 1, 17), a prophet who tests (verse 27), and a path already known (verse 16). To the path the people answer, “We will not walk therein”; to the watchmen, “We will not hearken” (verses 16–17). The key verb is reject. In verse 19 the people “rejected” the Lord's law; in verse 30 the Lord, in the same Hebrew word, has “rejected” them. The judgment that arrives from the north (verses 22–23) is therefore not arbitrary. Verse 19 calls it “the fruit of their thoughts.”

The prophet's own position runs through it. He is a watchman who blows the trumpet, a man “full of the fury of the LORD” and tired of holding it in (verse 11), and finally an assayer set “to know and try” the people's way (verse 27). The chapter ends at the furnace. The bellows blow and the fire burns, “for the wicked are not plucked away” (verse 29).

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–8

Flee, for the enemy comes from the north

In plain words

People of Benjamin, get out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem, for disaster is looking down from the north. I will destroy the lovely, delicate daughter of Zion. Shepherds with their flocks will come against her and pitch their tents around her; each will feed on his own patch. The attackers urge one another on: “Prepare for battle! Up, let us attack at noon! The day is nearly over, the shadows are growing long. Up, let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!” For this is what the Lord of hosts says: “Cut down the trees and build a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished, for she is full of oppression. As a fountain pours out its water, she pours out her wickedness. Violence and spoil are heard in her; grief and wounds are always before me. Be instructed, Jerusalem, or my soul will tear itself away from you and I will make you a desolation, a land where no one lives.”

1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Context #

Why the alarm sounds south of Jerusalem

The warning goes out to the south because the enemy is coming from the north, so that “the flight will be directed southwards.”

The warning goes out to the south because the enemy is coming from the north, so that “the flight will be directed southwards.” Jeremiah's own town of Anathoth was “in the tribal territory of Benjamin,” so “the children of Benjamin” are his fellow-countrymen. Tekoa, on one old tradition (Jerome's), lay on a hill twelve Roman miles south of Jerusalem, and Beth-haccerem was a hamlet between the two. These are traditions about the sites, not certainties.

The verse also plays on a sound. The Hebrew for “blow the trumpet in Tekoa” is uvit-teqoaʿ tiqʿu shofar: the verb “blow” (tiqʿu) sounds like the town's name. The “sign of fire” is the KJV's rendering of a phrase that says only “lift up a signal” (seʾu massʾet); a beacon or a column of smoke is a guess, since “the nature of which is not further made known.”

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.

Related Scriptures #

The boiling pot begins to move

“Evil… out of the north” is the “seething pot” of Jeremiah's call, now in motion.

“Evil… out of the north” is the “seething pot” of Jeremiah's call, now in motion. In Jer. 1:13–15 the Lord shows him a pot with its face “toward the north” and says He will call “all the families of the kingdoms of the north” to set their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem. The Church edition ties this verse to that call and to two later chapters, Jer. 4:6 and Jer. 10:22, which sound the same alarm.

The enemy of the nearby chapters is Babylon: in the image of Jer. 4:7, “the lion, Babylon, was about to come out of the thicket.” This chapter does not name the nation. What it gives is a direction, a character (“cruel, and have no mercy,” verse 23), and distance (“the sides of the earth,” verse 22).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

Language #

A beautiful woman, and who comes for her

Verse 2 is probably a sentence on the city, not a comparison. The Hebrew verb damiti can come from a root meaning “be like” (hence the KJV's “likened”) or from one meaning “cease,…

Verse 2 is probably a sentence on the city, not a comparison. The Hebrew verb damiti can come from a root meaning “be like” (hence the KJV's “likened”) or from one meaning “cease, cause to cease, cut off, destroy,” and the lexicon places this verse under the second, with Israel “under figure of” the daughter of Zion. The ESV reads it that way: “The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion,” while its footnote keeps the other reading as possible: “I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture.” The “daughter of Zion” is Jerusalem, “personified as a beautiful and delicately reared woman.”

Verse 3 then shows who carries out the sentence: shepherds with their flocks, pitching tents around her, each feeding “in his place.” One reading takes the shepherds as a figure for rulers, “princes, who with their peoples besiege and sack Jerusalem,” as in Jer. 1:15, where the northern kings set their thrones at the gates.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6 For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

Context #

The Lord gives the siege orders

In verses 4–5 the speakers are the attackers, urging each other on (“let us go up at noon… let us go up by night”).

In verses 4–5 the speakers are the attackers, urging each other on (“let us go up at noon… let us go up by night”). Verse 6 then breaks in with “thus hath the LORD of hosts said,” and the order to “hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem” is the Lord's.

“Cast a mount” is siege language. Ezekiel's account of a siege uses the same phrase: “lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it” (Ezek. 4:2), and the Church edition links the two. “Visited” in this verse, the Church edition's footnote says, means “punished,” and the reason follows at once: “she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.” Her wickedness pours out as a fountain pours its water, and “violence and spoil is heard in her” (verse 7).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

Verses 9–15

A wound bandaged, a conscience gone

In plain words

The Lord of hosts says: “They will glean what is left of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; go over the branches again, like a grape-picker.” “To whom can I speak and give warning, so that they will hear? Their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. The word of the Lord is a reproach to them, and they take no delight in it. I am full of the fury of the Lord, and weary with holding it in; I will pour it out on the children abroad and on the young men gathered together. Husband and wife will both be taken, the old with the very old. Their houses, fields, and wives will go to others, when I stretch out my hand against the people of the land. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophet and priest alike are frauds. They have healed my people's hurt slightly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed of their abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed, and could not blush. So they will fall with the fallen; when I punish them, they will be brought down.”

9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Related Scriptures #

An ear that cannot hear

“Uncircumcised” ears are ears closed to God. Circumcision was the token given to Abraham, and the Lord taught “in numerous places” that after accountability “the true…

“Uncircumcised” ears are ears closed to God. Circumcision was the token given to Abraham, and the Lord taught “in numerous places” that after accountability “the true circumcision… is that of the heart.” The idiom of a covered foreskin became “a metaphor for being covered from or insensitive to spiritual things generally,” and this verse is cited as an example. The people carried the sign, but, as Jeremiah says, “they cannot hearken.”

Stephen turns the same charge on the council: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51), which is the Church edition's footnote on this verse.

Verse 11 gives the prophet's state: “full of the fury of the LORD,” “weary with holding in.” One reading takes the speaker to be Jeremiah himself, “so filled with the fury of God, that he must pour it forth on the depraved race.” The message is not something he can carry lightly.

Sources: Scripture Central, “Why Does Jeremiah Refer to Circumcising the Heart?”, KnoWhy #872. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Related Scriptures #

Healing the wound slightly, and no shame

The charge is that the leaders treated a deep wound as a scratch. “From the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely” (verse 13), and the false treatment is a word:…

The charge is that the leaders treated a deep wound as a scratch. “From the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely” (verse 13), and the false treatment is a word: “Peace, peace.” The prophets and priests “dressed the nation's wounds, but skin-deep only,” and “had become completely insensitive to the evils in which they and their nation were immersed.”

The same lines stand in Jer. 8:10–12, and Ezekiel hears the same charge against the prophets of his day: they “seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace” (Ezek. 13:10). In Lehi's Jerusalem the false voices were not silent either: “false prophets were preaching pleasing words to the people,” which “made following the true word of the Lord more complicated.”

Verse 15 shows what such leadership does to a conscience: “neither could they blush.” “Continued active involvement in evil has a way of dulling the conscience until a point is reached when all awareness of evil is lost.” That is why a gentler word could not heal them: no shame was left for it to work on.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Scripture Central, “Why Did Some in Lehi’s Time Believe that Jerusalem Could Not Be Destroyed?”, KnoWhy #451.

15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Verses 16–21

Three refusals

In plain words

The Lord says: “Stand in the ways and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I appointed watchmen over you: ‘Listen for the sound of the trumpet.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ So hear, you nations; know, you assembly, what will happen to them. Hear, earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to my words and have rejected my law. What use to me is incense from Sheba or fragrant cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices do not please me. So I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and fathers and sons alike will stumble over them; neighbor and friend will perish.”

16 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.

Related Scriptures #

The old paths are the ones they already had

The “old paths” are not a new teaching; Jeremiah's later chapters describe them as the way the Lord had already given.

The “old paths” are not a new teaching; Jeremiah's later chapters describe them as the way the Lord had already given. The Lord says the people “have forgotten me” and “have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths” (Jer. 18:15), and recalls what He asked of their fathers when He brought them out of Egypt: “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you” (Jer. 7:22–23).

The promise attached to the old paths is “ye shall find rest for your souls.” Jesus' invitation has nearly the same words in the KJV, and the ESV cross-references the two: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me… and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:29).

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway.

17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

Related Scriptures #

The prophets are the watchmen

The “watchmen” are the prophets, and the trumpet is their warning. The Lord says the same to Ezekiel: “I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the…

The “watchmen” are the prophets, and the trumpet is their warning. The Lord says the same to Ezekiel: “I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me” (Ezek. 3:17). Ezekiel's commission names the cost of silence: if the watchman does not warn, “his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezek. 3:20). Verse 1 calls for the trumpet to be blown; verse 17 recalls that the sound had already been refused.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Context #

Offerings brought from far away that the Lord will not accept

The incense and cane come from far away, and the Lord does not accept them.

The incense and cane come from far away, and the Lord does not accept them. Sheba lay in southern Arabia, and this verse is one of the passages the Bible Dictionary lists under its name. “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.”

The fault is not that sacrifice itself is wrong. The Lord has just said that the people “have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it” (verse 19), and the rest of scripture makes the same distinction: “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22); “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” (Isa. 1:11–13); “I spake not unto your fathers… concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice” (Jer. 7:22–23).

Sources: “Sheba”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Related Scriptures #

Stumblingblocks that are their own doing

The stumblingblocks the Lord lays are made of the people's own choices.

The stumblingblocks the Lord lays are made of the people's own choices. Verse 19 has already called the evil “the fruit of their thoughts,” and the Church edition's footnote there points to a proverb with the same shape: “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices” (Prov. 1:31). Ezekiel hears the same: “When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die” (Ezek. 3:20).

In the Book of Mormon, King Limhi tells his people in bondage that the Lord has said: “I will not succor my people in the day of their transgression; but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not; and their doings shall be as a stumbling block before them” (Mosiah 7:29). The Church edition links verse 21 to that passage.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 22–26

The nation from the north

In plain words

The Lord says: “Look, an army is coming from a northern land; a great nation is stirring from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. Their roar is like the sea as they ride on horses, lined up like men for battle against you, daughter of Zion.” The city says, “We have heard the news and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like a woman in labor. Do not go out into the fields or walk the roads, for the enemy has a sword and terror is on every side.” My people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn as for an only son, with bitter wailing, for the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

Related Scriptures #

The same words turned on Babylon

The description of the northern nation echoes an older warning. Deuteronomy says: “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the…

The description of the northern nation echoes an older warning. Deuteronomy says: “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand” (Deut. 28:49). The Church edition links it to the “north country” of verse 22.

The same words reappear in Jer. 50:41–43, pointed at Babylon: “a people shall come from the north… they hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea… against thee, O daughter of Babylon.” There “the king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail,” the reaction verse 24 gives Jerusalem. Words first aimed at Jerusalem are there aimed at Babylon.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

Verses 27–30

The assayer's verdict

In plain words

“I have made you an assayer of my people, a tester of metals, so that you may know and test their ways. They are all stubborn rebels who go about spreading slander; they are bronze and iron, all of them corrupt. The bellows blast, the fire has burned up the lead; the smelting is in vain, for the wicked are not drawn out. They are called rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them.”

27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

Language #

Jeremiah as assayer

“Tower” in the KJV hides the Hebrew word's sense: bachon is “assayer, one who tries metals,” and the lexicon lists only this verse for it.

“Tower” in the KJV hides the Hebrew word's sense: bachon is “assayer, one who tries metals,” and the lexicon lists only this verse for it. The ESV follows that: “a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways.” The job is to find out what the people are made of. The ESV links the verse to Jer. 1:18, where the Lord made him “a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls” against the people; here he is also an examiner.

Verse 28 names the sample “brass and iron,” and verse 29 describes the process: the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed, the founder “melteth in vain.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

Language #

“Reprobate” means rejected, the same word as in verse 19

“Reprobate silver” is silver that has been rejected, and the verb is the one the people used on the Lord's law.

“Reprobate silver” is silver that has been rejected, and the verb is the one the people used on the Lord's law. The Hebrew participle nimʾas comes from maʾas, “reject,” and the lexicon lists both verses under it: the people's rejection of the divine torah in verse 19 and “God rejects men” in verse 30. In verse 19 the people “rejected” the law; in verse 30 they are called rejected, “because the LORD hath rejected them.” The chapter ends by returning to the people the verb they used.

The ESV cross-references Isa. 1:22 and Isa. 1:25, where Isaiah says the city's silver is “become dross” and the Lord will “turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross.” There the Lord promises to purge. Here “the wicked are not plucked away,” and the testing ends in the verdict.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 6

The chapter points to Christ at the point where Judah refuses the Lord's way. The “old paths” of verse 16 come with a promise, “ye shall find rest for your souls,” and Jesus' invitation to those who labor has nearly the same words: “ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:29). The people's answer here, “We will not walk therein,” is the opposite of that coming. The Church edition links verse 10 to Stephen's charge to the council: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51).

Worth exploring next

The same lines about “Peace, peace” in Jer. 8:10–12.
The watchman's duty in Ezek. 3:17–21.
Limhi's address to his people in bondage in Mosiah 7:17–33.
Isaiah's picture of refining a city's silver: Isa. 1:21–26.

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
“Sheba”, Bible Dictionary.
Scripture Central, “Why Does Jeremiah Refer to Circumcising the Heart?”, KnoWhy #872.
Scripture Central, “Why Did Some in Lehi’s Time Believe that Jerusalem Could Not Be Destroyed?”, KnoWhy #451.

I’ve studied Jeremiah 6