Jeremiah 13:15 · Bible study
Jeremiah 13:15 Commentary: Pride and the Call to Hear God's Word
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Jeremiah 13:15 warns against pride as a barrier to hearing God.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Pride deafens us to God's word; the antidote is acknowledging the authority of the One who speaks.
- Key words: Shama (hear/obey), azan (give ear), gavah (be haughty), ki YHWH diber (for Yahweh has spoken).
- Main debate: Whether the pride warned against is primarily national arrogance (trusting in temple/political alliances) or individual stubbornness toward the prophet's message. Commentators support both.
- Theological theme: Divine authority; the word of God demands humble reception. Human pride is the root of rebellion.
- Best use: As a call to repentance before judgment, in personal Bible reading, preaching on humility, or teaching about the authority of Scripture.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Listen and give heed. Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud, for Yahweh has spoken.
KJV King James Version 1769
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud; for Jehovah hath spoken.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
Hear, and give ear--be not haughty, For Jehovah hath spoken.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Hear ye, and give ear, be not lifted up; for Jehovah hath spoken.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Escuchad y oid; no os elevéis: pues Jehová ha hablado.
Escutai e ouvi: não sejais arrogantes, pois o SENHOR falou.
Écoutez et prêtez l’ oreille!
So höret nun und merket auf und trotzt nicht; denn der HERR hat's geredet.
Hoort en neemt ter ore, verheft u niet; want de HEERE heeft het gesproken.
Ascoltate, porgete orecchio! non insuperbite, perché l’Eterno parla.
Słuchajcież, a pojmujcie uszyma, nie podnoście się; boć Pan mówi.
Слушайте и внимайте; не будьте горды, ибо Господь говорит.
你們當聽，當側耳而聽。不要 驕傲，因為 耶和華 已經說了。
Give ear and let your ears be open; be not lifted up: for these are the words of the Lord.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 13:15
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that this verse is a direct call to humility grounded in God's authority. Calvin notes that Jeremiah's hearers were deriding him as an impostor, so the prophet defends his calling: “he affirms that he brought nothing of his own, but spoke as it were from the mouth of God.” Pride, says Calvin, is the root evil, creatures of dust too elevated to hear what God says. Gill calls the doubled command “the closest and strictest attention,” and names pride as haughtiness that “despises the word of God.” Jamieson-Fausset-Brown state bluntly: “Pride was the cause of their contumacy, as humility is the first step to obedience.” The symbols of the ruined belt and the wine jugs (vv.11, 14) were, Barnes adds, “very humiliating to the national self-respect.” The prophets’ words, then, are not Jeremiah’s but God’s; to reject them is to reject God. That is the decisive ground: “for Yahweh has spoken.”
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The verse commands a humble hearing of God's word on the basis that it is God himself who speaks.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of the pride condemned | All commentators see pride as a refusal to listen to God's word, expressed in haughty, self-sufficient attitudes. | Some (e.g., Matthew Henry) emphasize national pride in the temple and covenant; others (Calvin) focus on individual rejection of the prophet's authority both are present in the text. |
| Ground of the command: 'for Yahweh has spoken' | The phrase establishes the divine origin of the message and is the basis for obedience. | Calvin stresses it as Jeremiah's defense against accusations of being an impostor; Keil & Delitzsch see it as the ground for giving glory to God before judgment both readings are complementary. |
| Timeframe: when must Israel respond? | The call is urgent and immediate; delay is dangerous. | Some (Gill) link it closely to the preceding woe-oracles (v.12-14); others (Cambridge) see it as a general summons to repent while there is time, before the 'darkness' of v.16. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Jeremiah 13:15 stands at a hinge in the chapter. In verses 1, 11, Yahweh uses the symbol of a ruined loincloth to show how Judah has corrupted its close relationship with Him. Then verses 12, 14 present the “bottles filled with wine” oracle, a grim metaphor for judgment by drunkenness and mutual destruction. Verse 15 breaks in with an urgent call: Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud, for Yahweh has spoken.
The historical setting is the late 7th century BC, likely during the reign of Jehoiakim (609, 598 BC), when Babylon was rising to power and Judah was caught between empires. The people trusted in the temple, the covenant, and the Davidic line as guarantees of safety, a false confidence Jeremiah repeatedly attacked. Pride, in this context, was not merely individual arrogance; it was national refusal to listen to God’s warnings. The surrounding verses (16, 17) intensify the plea: “Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness… But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride.” The call is urgent because judgment is imminent.
Culturally, “hearing” (שָׁמַע, shama) implied obedience, not just auditory reception. To “give ear” (אָזַן, azan) meant to lean in with the intent to obey. The command not to be proud (literally “do not be high,” גָּבַהּ, gavah) echoes warnings throughout the prophets; pride makes people unteachable and deaf to correction. The phrase “for Yahweh has spoken” (כִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר) is the ultimate reason for submission. As the Targum paraphrases, “for in the word of the Lord it is so decreed.”
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Jeremiah 13:15. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. The Kethib/Qere variation in verse 16 (yashit vs veshit) does not affect verse 15. The verse is straightforward, with no alternative readings that impact interpretation.
Reception History
Jeremiah 13:15 has been used across Christian traditions to emphasize the authority of God’s word and the necessity of humility before it. The Reformers, especially Calvin, saw it as a key text for defending the prophetic office against those who dismissed God’s messengers. In Puritan preaching, the verse was often cited in calls for personal and national repentance. The phrase “Hear, and give ear” appears in liturgical contexts as a rallying call to attention before Scripture reading. In modern Bible study, it serves as a concise warning against the pride that prevents believers from submitting to God’s revealed will.
Preaching This Verse
Three-Point Outline
- Wake up and listen. The doubled call, “hear” and “give ear”, shows the urgency of the moment. Israel’s danger is real, and so is ours. God is not whispering. He is shouting through His prophet.
- Pride shuts the ears. Pride is not just a bad attitude; it is the engine that makes people reject God’s word. The Hebrew verb gavah means to be elevated, lifted up. When we lift ourselves up, we cannot hear the One who is truly high.
- Look to the speaker, not just the message. “For Yahweh has spoken.” Jeremiah pins his authority on God, not on his own eloquence. The antidote to pride is not self-help but reverence for the living God who has spoken in His Word.
Five-Point Outline
- The urgent call: “Hear and give ear.”
- The barrier: pride (national, religious, personal).
- The basis: God has spoken, the message is not Jeremiah’s.
- The urgency: judgment is already promised in the previous verses.
- The response: humble yourself before God, or face the darkness.
Illustration Hooks
- A person who refuses to read warning labels or instructions because “I already know what I’m doing.”
- A student who ignores a teacher’s corrections because they think they already understand the subject.
- A nation that dismisses a weather warning for a hurricane because “it won’t hit us.”
Questions Your Congregation Is Asking
- “How do I know if pride is keeping me from hearing God?”
- “What does it mean that ‘Yahweh has spoken’? Does that apply to the Bible today?”
- “Is this verse just about Israel, or does it apply to me now?”
Leading a Discussion
This verse cuts to the heart of why we resist God’s word. Pride convinces us we don’t need to listen. The phrase “for Yahweh has spoken” reminds us that we are not arguing with a fallible person, but with the God who made us. Use these questions to help your group examine their own posture toward Scripture.
Discussion Questions
- Read Jeremiah 13:15. What difference does it make that the verse begins with two commands to hear, not one?
- What is the relationship between pride and refusing to listen? Give an example from your own life.
- Why do you think Jeremiah adds “for Yahweh has spoken” after telling them not to be proud? How does that phrase change the weight of the command?
- Look at the verses that follow (13:16, 17). How does the threat of “darkness” and “stumbling” support the urgency of verse 15?
- In what ways might we be proud about our own understanding of God’s word, even if we are reading it regularly?
- How does recognizing that “Yahweh has spoken” humble a person? What does that look like practically?
- What is one area of your life where you need to stop being proud and simply hear what God is saying?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Isaiah 28:14 | Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: |
| Isaiah 28:22 | Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth. |
| Isaiah 42:23 | Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? |
| Jeremiah 26:15 | Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.” |
| Joel 1:2 | Hear this, you elders, and listen, all you inhabitants of the land! Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? |
| Amos 7:15 | and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ |
| Acts 4:19 | But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, |
| Acts 4:20 | for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.” |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes highlights that the command to abandon pride is grounded in the deeply humiliating nature of the two symbols. These symbols, he explains, directly assault national self-respect, making the warning against pride both necessary and fitting.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin observes that Jeremiah had to insist God himself was speaking because the people were so stubborn they dismissed the prophet as an impostor. By saying the Lord had spoken, Jeremiah defended his calling and warned that resisting him meant contending with God directly. Their refusal to listen came from pride, a pride that kept them deaf.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Let Judah beware while there is time d The prophet bids them acknowledge Jehovah, by submission and obedience, before they are overtaken by the blackness of national overthrow. Otherwise (says Jeremiah) I will in silent grief witness your ruin.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva annotators frame the command as a double call to hear and give ear, pressing the reader not to grow proud. The ground for this urgency is that the Lord himself has spoken, making humble attention the only proper response.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that the repeated call to hear and give ear demands the closest attention. He warns against pride as self-exaltation that despises God's messages. The reason for humility is that the Lord himself has spoken, and his decree is certain; no one prospers by opposing him.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB sees pride as the root cause of stubborn disobedience to God, while humility is the necessary first step toward obedience. Pride hardens people against God’s commands, making contumacy natural; humility softens the heart and opens the way to submission.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch reads "give God the glory" as a call to confess apostasy and return in repentance, not mere praise. They argue the Hebrew verb for "bring darkness" is transitive: God actively sends judgment. "Mountains of dusk" symbolize unseen stumbling blocks, while "shadow of death" means deep darkness and "arafel" a cloudy night.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry focuses on the striking figure of bottles filled with wine, which he reads as God's judgment intoxicating the people. The drunkenness renders them helpless, so they are dashed against one another in destruction. He then underscores the urgent call to humble themselves and give glory to God before the darkness comes.