What does Jeremiah 9:4 Mean?

Study Notes

trust
.

Trust is the characteristic O.T. word for the N.T. "faith," "believe." It occurs 152 times in the O.T., and is the rendering of Heb. words signifying to take refuge (e.g. Ruth 2:12 "to lean on" (e.g.) Psalms 56:3 "to roll on" (e.g.) Psalms 22:8 "to stay upon" (e.g.) Job 35:14 .

Verse Meaning

The Lord advised His people to be on guard against their neighbors, and not to trust their fellow Israelites, because they all dealt deceitfully and slandered one another. The word translated "craftily" comes from the same Hebrew root as "Jacob," ya"qob. The people were behaving like Jacob at his worst. This was civil unrest at its worst. [source][source]

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Context Summary

Jeremiah 9:1-6

Once the voice of joy and thanksgiving had been heard in Jerusalem, but now on every side there was bloodshed, and the patriot-prophet could only weep incessantly over the slain. A lodge in the wilderness seemed preferable to the most luxurious mansion in the city. Solitude would be better than association with the ungodly perpetrators of such crimes. Yet we must not go out of the fray so long as our Captain wants us to remain in it, in dependence upon him.

Jeremiah 9:7-16

What a magnificent description of the effect of God's judgments on the land! No bird, no beast, no lowing of cattle, but jackals gamboling over the ruins of Jerusalem. However fast we shut our doors and windows, death enters our homes. Neither palace nor cottage is exempted. There is no escape for young or old from the judgments of God, except in penitence and faith. The secret of national decay and overthrow is the same in all ages. The tree is rotten at the core before it falls beneath the hurricane. Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 1:18, which belongs to this chapter, and learn how little the wisdom and might of the world can avail us in the dread hour of universal desolation. Stand with the Crucified and glory in His Cross; be content to bear His reproach and shame, that you may become a son of the Resurrection, and be accounted worthy to escape those things that must come to pass, and at last stand, before Him. [source]

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 9

¹  Jeremiah laments the people for their manifold sins;
⁹  and for their judgment
¹²  Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity
¹⁷  He exhorts to mourn for their destruction;
²³  and to trust not in themselves, but in God
²⁵  He threatens both Jews and Gentiles