Jeremiah 7:22–24
God's first request was, “Listen to my voice,” and they did not
Study it word by word22For I did not speak to your fathers or command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning matters of burnt offering and sacrifice.
23But this word I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your Elohim, and you will be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, so that it may go well with you.’
24But they did not listen or incline their ear, but walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they went backward and not forward.
In its context
20Therefore thus says Adonai YHWH: Look, my anger and my fury are poured out on this place, on human beings and on livestock, and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.
21Thus says YHWH Tsevaot, the Elohim of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
…
25From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I sent to you all my servants the prophets, every day rising early and sending.
26Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did worse than their fathers.
Its words in the original
- דִבַּרְתִּיdibarti· speak
Speak, talk, say; also promise or command.
- אֲבוֹתֵיavote· father
Father; also ancestor ("our fathers"), and the founder or head of a family or group.
- צִוִּיתִיtsiviti· command
Command, give an order; give charge to someone.
- יוֹםyom· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").
- הוֹצִיאִhotsii· go out, bring out
Go out, come out. In the causative form, "make go out", "bring out", "lead out", "produce".
- אֶרֶץerets· earth, land
The earth, in two senses: the whole world in contrast with the heavens, or a particular country or region ("the land of Egypt").
- מִצְרָיִםmitsrayim· Egypt, Mizraim
Mizraim, the Hebrew name of Egypt; also the Egyptians. As a person, a son of Ham, ancestor of the Egyptians.
- דִּבְרֵיdivre· word, matter, thing
Word; what is said. Also "matter" or "thing": what is spoken about, an affair, an event.
- עוֹלָהola· burnt offering
Burnt offering: a sacrifice in which the animal is burned whole on the altar, as a total gift to God. The Hebrew word means "what goes up" (in smoke).
- זָבַחzavach· sacrifice
Sacrifice: an animal offered to God; part of its meat was eaten in a shared meal.
- אמֹרmor· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- שִׁמְעוּshimu· hear, listen, obey
Hear, listen. In the Bible listening truly includes paying heed; so it often means "obey". In the causative form, make heard, proclaim.
- קוֹלִkoli· voice, sound
Voice or sound: what is heard, from a person, an animal or a thing (thunder, steps).
- הָיִיתִיhayiti· be, become, happen
Be, exist; also "become" or "happen". It is the verb of "there was", "it was" and "it came to pass".
- אלֹהִיםlohim· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- עָםam· people
People: a human group joined by kinship, history and destiny. "My people", said by God, is Israel. Also the people as a crowd, or troops.
- הֲלַכְתֶּםhalachtem· go, walk
Go, walk, come. Figuratively, the way one lives ("walk with God").
- דֶּרֶךְderech· way
Way, road, journey. Figuratively, the way one lives or acts.
- יִיטַבyitav· do well, be good
Do well, act well; go well for someone; please. Also set something right, prepare it.
- הִטּוּhitu· stretch out, turn aside
Stretch out, spread; pitch a tent. Also bend, incline; turn aside, pervert (justice).
- אָזְנָazna· ear
Ear. "Speak in someone's ears" is to tell him something directly.
- יֵּלְכוּyelchu· go, walk
Go, walk, depart; in the causative form, lead or bring.
- מֹעֵצוֹתmoetsot· plan, counsel
Plan, counsel: what someone intends to do after thinking it over.
- שְׁרִרוּתsherirut· stubbornness
Stubbornness: the hardness of one who follows only his own opinion.
- לִבָּliba· heart
Heart. In Hebrew it is not only the place of feelings: it is the center of the person, where one thinks, decides and wills; also the middle of something.
- רָעra· evil, bad, harm
Bad; evil. It includes what is morally wrong and also what does harm: misfortune, disaster, distress.
- אָחוֹרachor· behind, backward
Backward; the back part.
- פָנִיםfanim· face, presence
Face. From there "surface" (the face of something) and "presence" (being before someone's face); with a preposition it means "before" or "in front of".