Jeremiah 7:26 (WEB)

Passage

Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 7:24 But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.

Jeremiah 7:27 “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.

Jeremiah 7:28 You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "didn", "listen", "incline", "neck", "stiff", "worse", "than", and "fathers". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "didn" and "listen", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Since the day that your fathers came..." into verse 27's "You shall speak all these words to...", so "didn" and "listen" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "didn" and "listen" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.