Jeremiah 16:10
New International Version
“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’

New Living Translation
“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the LORD our God?’

English Standard Version
“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

Berean Standard Bible
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

King James Bible
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

New King James Version
“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

New American Standard Bible
“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

NASB 1995
“Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’

NASB 1977
“Now it will come about when you tell this people all these words that they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’

Legacy Standard Bible
“Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has Yahweh declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against Yahweh our God?’

Amplified Bible
“Now when you tell these people all these words and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed all this great tragedy against us? And what is our iniquity, what is the sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’

Christian Standard Bible
“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the LORD declared all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? ’

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

American Standard Version
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?

Contemporary English Version
They will ask, "Why has the LORD our God threatened us with so many disasters? Have we done something wrong or sinned against him?"

English Revised Version
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"When you tell the people all these things, they will ask you, 'Why does the LORD threaten us with all these disasters? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the LORD our God?'

Good News Translation
"When you tell them all this, they will ask you why I have decided to punish them so harshly. They will ask what crime they are guilty of and what sin they have committed against the LORD their God.

International Standard Version
"When you speak all these words to this people, they'll say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

Majority Standard Bible
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

NET Bible
"When you tell these people about all this, they will undoubtedly ask you, 'Why has the LORD threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the LORD our God?'

New Heart English Bible
It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall tell you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

World English Bible
It will happen, when you tell this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity?’ or ‘What is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?’
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And it has come to pass, "" When you declare all these words to this people, "" And they have said to you, "" Why has YHWH spoken all this great evil against us? Indeed, what [is] our iniquity, and what [is] our sin, "" That we have sinned against our God YHWH?

Young's Literal Translation
And it hath come to pass when thou declarest to this people all these words, and they have said unto thee, 'For what hath Jehovah spoken against us all this great evil? yea, what is our iniquity, and what our sin, that we have sinned against Jehovah our God?'

Smith's Literal Translation
And being when thou shalt announce to this people all these words, and they said to thee, For what did Jehovah speak against us all this great evil? and what our iniquities? and what our sins which we sinned to Jehovah our God?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we have sinned against the Lord our God?

Catholic Public Domain Version
And when you announce all these words to this people, they will say to you: ‘Why would the Lord pronounce all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity and what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

New American Bible
When you proclaim all these words to this people and they ask you: “Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our crime? What sin have we committed against the LORD, our God?”—

New Revised Standard Version
And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And it shall come to pass, when you tell this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have sinned against the LORD our God?

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And if you will show this people all these words, they will say to you: why has LORD JEHOVAH spoken against us all this great evil? What is our debt and what is our sin that we have sinned against LORD JEHOVAH our God?
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee: 'Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt report to this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Wherefore has the Lord pronounced against us all these evils? what is our unrighteousness? and what is our sin which we have sinned before the Lord our God?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Disaster Predicted
9For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom. 10 When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 29:24-28
So all the nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ / And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. / They went and served other gods, and they worshiped gods they had not known—gods that the LORD had not given to them. ...

2 Kings 22:13
“Go and inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words in this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing all that is written about us.”

2 Chronicles 34:21
“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”

Ezekiel 14:23
They will bring you consolation when you see their conduct and actions, and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done all these things within it,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 18:2-3
“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’? / As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Isaiah 1:3
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

Isaiah 5:13
Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

Isaiah 42:24-25
Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? They were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they would not obey His law. / So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

Lamentations 2:17
The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

Daniel 9:11-14
All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. / You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. / Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. ...

Matthew 13:13-15
This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ / In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. / For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Matthew 23:29-36
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. / And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ / So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ...

Mark 4:12
so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’”

Luke 19:41-44
As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it / and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes. / For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side. ...


Treasury of Scripture

And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

Wherefore.

Jeremiah 2:35
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

Jeremiah 5:19
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Jeremiah 13:22
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.

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Jeremiah 16
1. The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage,
8. from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshows the utter ruin of the Jews;
10. because they were worse than their fathers.
14. Their return from captivity shall be stranger than their deliverance out of Egypt.
16. God will doubly recompense their idolatry.














When you tell this people all these things
This phrase sets the stage for a prophetic declaration. The Hebrew word for "tell" is "dabar," which means to speak or declare. It implies a divine mandate given to Jeremiah to communicate God's message. The phrase "this people" refers to the Israelites, who were often addressed collectively in prophetic literature. Historically, this was a time of great turmoil and impending judgment for Judah, as they were on the brink of Babylonian exile. Jeremiah's role as a prophet was to convey God's warnings and truths, even when they were difficult to hear.

and they ask you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us?'
The people's question reveals a lack of understanding or acknowledgment of their own sinfulness. The Hebrew word for "ask" is "sha'al," which can also mean to inquire or seek. This indicates a moment of introspection or confusion among the people. The term "great disaster" translates from "ra'ah gedolah," suggesting a calamity of significant magnitude. Historically, this refers to the Babylonian conquest and the subsequent exile, a pivotal event in Jewish history. Theologically, it underscores the concept of divine justice and the consequences of turning away from God's covenant.

What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Here, the words "iniquity" and "sin" are crucial. "Iniquity" comes from the Hebrew "avon," which implies guilt or moral perversity, while "sin" is "chatta'ah," meaning an offense or transgression. The repetition of these terms emphasizes the people's blindness to their spiritual state. This reflects a recurring theme in the Old Testament, where the Israelites often failed to recognize their covenant violations. The phrase "against the LORD our God" highlights the personal nature of their rebellion, as it is not just a breach of law but a betrayal of their relationship with Yahweh. This serves as a reminder of the importance of self-examination and repentance in the life of faith.

(10) What is our iniquity? . . .--Now, as before (Jeremiah 5:19), the threatenings of judgment are met with words of real or affected wonder. "What have we done to call for all this? In what are we worse than our fathers, or than other nations?" All prophets had more or less to encounter the same hardness. It reaches its highest form in the reiterated questions of the same type in Malachi 1, 2.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you tell
תַגִּיד֙ (ṯag·gîḏ)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 5046: To be conspicuous

these
הַזֶּ֔ה (haz·zeh)
Article | Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

people
לָעָ֣ם (lā·‘ām)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

these
הָאֵ֑לֶּה (hā·’êl·leh)
Article | Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

things,
הַדְּבָרִ֖ים (had·də·ḇā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

they will ask
וְאָמְר֣וּ (wə·’ā·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

you,
אֵלֶ֗יךָ (’ê·le·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

‘Why
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

has the LORD
יְהוָ֤ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

pronounced
דִבֶּ֨ר (ḏib·ber)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

this
הַזֹּ֔את (haz·zōṯ)
Article | Pronoun - feminine singular
Strong's 2063: Hereby in it, likewise, the one other, same, she, so much, such deed, that,

great
הַגְּדוֹלָה֙ (hag·gə·ḏō·w·lāh)
Article | Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 1419: Great, older, insolent

disaster
הָרָעָ֤ה (hā·rā·‘āh)
Article | Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil

against us?
עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙ (‘ā·lê·nū)
Preposition | first person common plural
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

What
וּמֶ֤ה (ū·meh)
Conjunctive waw | Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

is our guilt?
עֲוֺנֵ֙נוּ֙ (‘ă·wō·nê·nū)
Noun - common singular construct | first person common plural
Strong's 5771: Iniquity, guilt, punishment for iniquity

What
וּמֶ֣ה (ū·meh)
Conjunctive waw | Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

is the sin
חַטָּאתֵ֔נוּ (ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯê·nū)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common plural
Strong's 2403: An offence, its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, expiation, an offender

that
אֲשֶׁ֥ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

we have committed
חָטָ֖אנוּ (ḥā·ṭā·nū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common plural
Strong's 2398: To miss, to sin, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, lead astray, condemn

against the LORD
לַֽיהוָ֥ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

our God?’
אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 16:10 It shall happen when you shall show (Jer.)
Jeremiah 16:9
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