Jeremiah 7:27 · Bible study
Jeremiah 7:27 Commentary: Prophetic Ministry Despite Rejection
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Why does God command Jeremiah to speak to a people who will not listen? This study explores the purpose of prophetic ministry in the face of rejection.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God commissions Jeremiah to speak though foreknowing rejection, emphasizing faithful obedience over visible success.
- Key words: דִּבַּרְתָּ (speak), קָרָאתָ (call), יִשְׁמְעוּ (listen), יַעֲנוּ (answer), Hebrew verbs of proclamation and response; the consecutive syntax signals inevitability.
- Main debate: Does God's command to speak in the face of rejection reflect his hardening judgment or his persistent mercy?
- Theological theme: Prophetic call, divine sovereignty, human hard-heartedness, and the sufficiency of God's word.
- Best use: A study for those in ministry, evangelism, or personal witness who feel discouraged by lack of response.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer.
WEB World English Bible 2000
“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
KJV King James Version 1769
Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And thou hast spoken unto them all these words, And they do not hearken to thee, And thou hast called unto them, And they do not answer thee.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken unto thee; and thou shalt call unto them, but they will not answer thee.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer thee.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Tú pues les dirás todas estas palabras, mas no te oirán; aun los llamarás, y no te responderán.
Por isso tu lhes dirás todas estas palavras, mas eles não te ouvirão; e tu os chamarás, mas eles não te responderão.
Si tu leur dis toutes ces choses, ils ne t’ écouteront pas;
Und wenn du ihnen dies alles schon sagst, so werden sie dich doch nicht hören; rufst du ihnen, so werden sie dir nicht antworten.
Ook zult gij al deze woorden tot hen spreken, maar zij zullen naar u niet horen; gij zult wel tot hen roepen, maar zij zullen u niet antwoorden.
Di’ loro tutte queste cose, ma essi non t’ascolteranno; chiamali, ma essi non ti risponderanno.
Gdy im będziesz mówił te wszystkie słowa, i ciebie nie usłuchają; a gdy na nich wołać będziesz, nie ozwąć się.
И когда ты будешь говорить им все эти слова, они тебя не послушают; и когда будешь звать их, они тебе не ответят.
「你要將 這 一切的 話 告訴 他們，他們卻不 聽從；呼喚 他們，他們卻不 答應。
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.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 7:27
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Jeremiah 7:27 reveals a central tension in prophetic ministry: God commands his messenger to speak even when he knows the people will not respond. Calvin calls this "a most grievous trial" to the prophet, who laboured for his nation yet was told his words would "pass away with the air." Gill notes that God's foreknowledge of the rejection prepared Jeremiah and confirmed his mission when it happened. Keil and Delitzsch point to the Hebrew consecutive construction (וְדִבַּרְתָּ followed by וְלֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ), which conveys the inevitability of the refusal. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown add that the verse tests the prophet's faith: though he knew his warnings would be unheeded, he was still to give them in obedience to God. All agree that the emphasis falls on Jeremiah's obedience, not on his success.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Sovereign judgment view: God's command to a prophet whose words will be rejected is part of his judicial hardening of Israel (cf. Isa 6:9–10).
- Patient warning view: God graciously sends warning even when he knows rejection, leaving the people without excuse and giving opportunity for repentance (cf. Jer 7:13, 25).
- Faithful witness view: The emphasis is on Jeremiah's obedience as a model for all believers; the outcome belongs to God and does not determine the value of the witness.
What is clear: God commands Jeremiah to speak, and the people will not listen; the prophet is obligated to obey regardless of the response.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of speaking despite rejection | God commands Jeremiah to speak; the prophet's obedience is central regardless of outcome. | Some see it as a means of hardening the people in judgment (sovereign design), while others emphasize God's patient warning and the opportunity for repentance that is resisted. |
| Divine foreknowledge and human responsibility | God knows the people will not listen; the people are morally culpable for their refusal. | Christians differ on how God's certain knowledge relates to his decree: some see it as permissive foreknowledge, others as a specific decree that includes the means as well as the end. |
| Application for contemporary ministry | Believers are called to faithful witness whether or not people respond. | Some argue this verse encourages perseverance in traditional proclamation regardless of results; others suggest that ongoing rejection might call for adaptation in approach without compromising the message. |
| Nature of prophetic ministry | The prophet's task is to deliver God's message, not to secure a positive response. | Reformed traditions often highlight the sovereign call of the prophet as a pattern for all ministry, while other traditions may place more emphasis on the grief and intercession that accompany such a call. |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits within Jeremiah's temple sermon, delivered early in Jehoiakim's reign (about 606 BC), as recorded in Jeremiah 7 and 26. The people placed false confidence in the temple building, assuming its presence guaranteed their safety (Jer 7:4). God exposes their hypocrisy: they worshiped other gods, committed injustice, and even burned children in the valley of Hinnom as offerings to Molech (Jer 7:30, 31). Through Jeremiah, God recalls his persistent sending of prophets since the exodus, "daily rising up early and sending them" (Jer 7:25). Yet the people stiffened their necks and did worse than their fathers (v.26).
Verse 27 then confronts the prophet with the sobering truth: his words will meet hardened hearts. The LORD had already warned Jeremiah at his call that the people would fight against him (Jer 1:19). Now, as he stands in the temple court, the promise is confirmed. The historical setting includes the looming threat of Babylon, the collapse of the northern kingdom a century earlier, and the accelerating spiritual decay under Manasseh and his successors. Lange's Commentary places this discourse before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when the Chaldeans were not yet named explicitly as the enemy. The verse thus serves as a hinge: God's patience is running out, but even judgment comes with a final witness.
Textual Notes
The Masoretic Text (used in most English translations) includes the full reading of verse 27. The Septuagint (LXX) has a shorter version: “And you shall say to them this word.” The Cambridge Bible suggests the Hebrew text may have undergone amplification. However, the textual witnesses are consistent in the substance: God commands Jeremiah to speak and predicts the people's refusal. No major theological variant is noted in the consulted sources.
Reception History
Early church fathers saw Jeremiah 7:27 as a pattern of prophetic suffering, prefiguring Christ's own rejection by his people. Calvin used it to encourage pastors to remain faithful even when congregations are unresponsive. During the Reformation, the verse was read as a sobering reminder that God's word itself can harden those who refuse it. In modern missionary contexts, this passage has strengthened believers who labour in resistant fields, knowing that obedience to the call matters more than immediate results. The verse also appears in evangelical preaching on the nature of sin and the grace of God's persistent appeal through his messengers.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- God speaks first. Before judgment falls, the LORD sends his word. Jeremiah is commanded to repeat "all these words", the warnings, promises, and pleas of verses 1, 26. God does not bring ruin without warning.
- God foreknows the response. The people will not listen. They will not answer. The prophetic work appears fruitless, but God prepares his servant for this reality.
- Obedience, not outcome, is the measure. Jeremiah is called to speak regardless. His faithfulness fulfills his commission, vindicates God's character, and becomes a witness against the nation's hardness.
Five-point outline
- The divine command: "You shall speak all these words to them", comprehensive, repeated, urgent.
- The human response: "They will not listen", a pattern of stubbornness stretching back centuries (Jer 7:24, 26).
- The prophet's trial: to preach knowing his words will be rejected, yet to persist in the call.
- The people's guilt: their refusal to answer confirms their judgment and strips them of any excuse.
- The lasting purpose: God's word does not return empty (Isa 55:11); its rejection now becomes evidence in the divine case against the nation, and a lesson for future generations.
Illustration hooks
- A physician who repeatedly warns a patient about smoking, knowing the patient will ignore the advice, continues because the warning itself is necessary for accountability.
- A parent sets a curfew for a teenager, fully expecting it to be broken, but the rule stands to establish boundaries and consequences.
- A teacher offers after-school tutoring to a disengaged student, suspecting the student won't show, but the open invitation honours the student's dignity and the teacher's duty.
Questions your congregation is asking
- "Does God still expect me to share my faith even when no one seems to respond?"
- "How do I keep going when my efforts produce no visible change in my family or community?"
- "If God knows people will reject him, why does he keep sending messengers?"
Leading a Discussion
This verse confronts us with the hard reality that faithful ministry can meet rejection. It also invites us to trust that God's word does not return empty, even when responses seem absent. As you discuss, remember that Jeremiah's call was not to produce results but to obey the God who sent him.
Discussion questions
- What exactly does God command Jeremiah to do in this verse? Why might that repetition be important?
- Why does God tell Jeremiah in advance that the people will not listen? How might that knowledge shape Jeremiah's ministry?
- How does the history of Israel's rebellion (vv. 24, 26) help explain the people's response in verse 27?
- What does this passage reveal about God's character, his patience, his justice, his commitment to speaking?
- Jeremiah is called to speak despite knowing the outcome. Where in your life do you feel called to obey without seeing results?
- How might this verse encourage someone who feels their witness in a family or workplace is fruitless?
- In what ways do we, like Judah, resist listening to God's word? How can we cultivate a heart that answers when God calls?
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 6:9 | He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ |
| Isaiah 6:10 | Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” |
| Isaiah 50:2 | Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst. |
| Isaiah 65:12 | I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” |
| Jeremiah 1:7 | But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. |
| Jeremiah 1:19 | They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.” |
| Jeremiah 26:2 | “Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word. |
| Ezekiel 2:4 | The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’ |
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.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin focuses on the prophet's inner struggle between human grief for his doomed nation and the stern duty to deliver God's message anyway. Knowing the people would not listen, the prophet still obeyed God's command without regard for the outcome. This same resolve, Calvin insists, is required of every faithful minister.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
27, 28 . For And thou shalt speak … say unto them , LXX has only And thou shalt say unto them this word , pointing to a probable amplification on the part of MT.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Therefore shalt thou speake al these words vnto them, but they will not heare thee: thou shalt also crie vnto them, but they will not answere thee.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that God foreknew the people would refuse to listen and respond, yet He still sent the prophet with the message. This advance warning served to confirm the prophet's divine commission and prepare him for rejection, so he would not be discouraged when it happened.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB follows Maurer in reading the conjunction as "though" rather than "therefore." This shifts the emphasis to a command given despite certain rejection: the prophet must deliver God's words even when he knows beforehand they will not be heard, making his obedience a direct test of faith.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch draws attention to the Hebrew grammar: the consecutive form of the verb "speak" implies not just a command but a concession. The sense is not merely "speak and they will not listen" but "even if you speak to them, they will not listen." The people's refusal is presented as certain despite any appeal.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange highlights that the people’s false trust in the temple as an unconditional guarantee of safety led them to believe they could sin freely and still be delivered. He stresses that Jeremiah refutes this by pointing to Shiloh as proof that God is not bound to any place, and by demanding genuine obedience over mere outward worship.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry shows that God speaks with deliberate contempt about the people's sacrifices, treating their ceremonial worship as worthless. The point is clear: external offerings mean nothing to God when the offerer continues in deliberate disobedience. Religious ritual cannot substitute for obedience.