Jeremiah 4:18 kjv
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Jeremiah 4:18 nkjv
"Your ways and your doings Have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart."
Jeremiah 4:18 niv
"Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!"
Jeremiah 4:18 esv
Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart."
Jeremiah 4:18 nlt
"Your own actions have brought this upon you.
This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!"
Jeremiah 4 18 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 28:15 | But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God... all these curses shall come upon you... | Disobedience leads to curses and calamity. |
| Prov 1:31 | They will eat the fruit of their ways and be gorged with their own schemes. | People consume the outcome of their chosen paths. |
| Isa 3:10-11 | Say to the righteous that it shall be well... Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. | God's justice in rewarding righteous and wicked according to deeds. |
| Jer 2:17 | Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when he led you in the way? | Judah is solely responsible for its own distress. |
| Jer 5:25 | Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. | Sin acts as a barrier to blessings. |
| Lam 1:18 | The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and see my suffering... | Acknowledgment of merited divine judgment for rebellion. |
| Hos 8:7 | For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind... | Destructive actions lead to chaotic and violent consequences. |
| Hos 10:13 | You have ploughed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of lies... | Sinful labor yields painful and deceitful fruits. |
| Gal 6:7 | Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. | Universal principle of reaping what is sown. |
| Job 4:8 | As I have seen, those who plough iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. | Observations confirming consequences of evil actions. |
| Psa 7:14 | Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. | Internal evil intentions manifest into destructive outcomes. |
| Jer 4:19 | My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is stirring within me... | Jeremiah's prophetic anguish, identifying with the nation's coming suffering. |
| Jer 8:14 | ...the LORD our God has made us perish and given us poisoned water to drink... | Metaphorical language for severe and painful judgment. |
| Lam 1:12 | Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow... | A lament describing incomparable suffering. |
| Lam 2:11 | My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my liver is poured out on the ground because of the destruction... | Deep, visceral pain and suffering. |
| Amos 8:10 | ...I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. | Describes profound and intense national mourning. |
| Rev 10:9-10 | ...it will make your stomach bitter... It was sweet as honey... but... my stomach was made bitter. | Bitterness of fulfilling/experiencing difficult prophecy or judgment. |
| Psa 9:16 | The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; by the work of his own hands the wicked are snared. | God's justice is demonstrated through His judgment. |
| Rom 6:23 | For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. | The ultimate, spiritual consequence of sin. |
| Heb 12:5-8 | ...the Lord disciplines the one he loves... It is for discipline that you have to endure. | God's painful discipline as an act of love for His children. |
| Ezra 9:13 | And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved... | Acknowledgment of justly merited, even reduced, divine punishment. |
| Psa 38:8 | I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. | Expresses intense inner emotional and physical suffering. |
| Jer 13:17 | But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly... | Jeremiah's personal bitter weeping for Judah's impending doom. |
Jeremiah 4 verses
Jeremiah 4 18 Meaning
Jeremiah 4:18 powerfully declares that the impending calamity upon Judah is a direct, inescapable consequence of their own persistent rebellion, idolatry, and unfaithful conduct. Their actions have directly manufactured their suffering. The verse laments the profound and agonizing nature of this divine judgment, emphasizing that the resultant bitterness and sorrow will deeply penetrate the very core of their being.
Jeremiah 4 18 Context
Jeremiah chapter 4 is part of the prophet Jeremiah's initial messages of judgment against Judah, likely delivered early in his ministry (c. 627-609 BCE). Following a series of impassioned pleas for repentance (Jer 3), God now explicitly warns of an impending, devastating invasion from the North, widely understood to be Babylon. Jeremiah paints a vivid picture of this enemy's swift, relentless approach, leading to utter destruction and desolation. Amidst this prophecy of doom, verse 18 stands as a profound declaration of accountability, clarifying that this overwhelming catastrophe is not arbitrary, but the direct and deserved consequence of Judah's unfaithfulness to the covenant, their deep-seated idolatry, and their moral corruption.
Jeremiah 4 18 Word analysis
Your ways (דְּרָכַיִךְ - dərāḵayiḵ): A plural Hebrew noun referring to pathways, courses of life, conduct, or moral trajectories. In the prophetic context, it signifies the overall lifestyle choices, moral principles (or lack thereof), and established patterns of behavior that defined Judah's deviation from God's commands.
and your deeds (וּמַעַלְלַיִךְ - ūmaʿalalāyiḵ): A plural noun specifically denoting actions, doings, or practices. While "ways" is more general conduct, "deeds" emphasizes the concrete, specific acts of transgression—idolatry, injustice, unfaithfulness—that flowed from Judah's ungodly "ways." It frequently carries a negative connotation in Scripture.
have brought this upon you (עָשׂוּ אֵלֶּה לָךְ - ʿāśū ʾēlleh lāḵ): Literally, "they have made/done these [things] to you." The subject, "they," implicitly refers back to "your ways and your deeds," signifying direct causation. "These things" refers to the looming disaster and suffering. This phrase emphatically declares Judah's own agency in incurring their impending judgment, absolving God of arbitrary cruelty.
This is your punishment/evil (זֹאת רָעָתֵךְ - zōṯ rāʿāṯēḵ): "This" (זֹאת) points to the predicted calamity. "Rāʿāh" (רָעָה) is a versatile Hebrew word meaning evil, disaster, distress, or punishment. Here, it is unequivocally presented as the catastrophic consequence, or punitive 'evil,' brought upon Judah. It affirms the judgment's legitimacy and the suffering it entails.
How bitter it is! (כִּי מַר - kî mar): "Kî" (כִּי) is used here as an emphatic interjection, translated as "how!" or "indeed!" "Mar" (מַר) means bitter. This exclamatory phrase expresses intense distress, profound sorrow, and agonizing unpleasantness. It underscores the severity and the deeply painful nature of the coming experience.
How it reaches your very heart/soul! (וְכִי נָגַע עַד נַפְשֵׁךְ - wəḵî nāḡaʿ ʿaḏ nap̱šeḵ): "Nāḡaʿ" (נָגַע) means to touch, reach, or strike. "Nefesh" (נֶפֶשׁ), often translated as "soul" or "life," in Hebrew thought encompasses the entire person, the vital essence, the innermost being, and emotional center. The phrase conveys that the suffering will not be superficial but will deeply pierce and impact their core identity and emotional life, inflicting profound and all-encompassing pain.
Words-group analysis:
- "Your ways and your deeds": This coupling functions as a hendiadys or synonymous parallelism, covering both the general moral trajectory and the specific actions of Judah. It denotes a holistic indictment of their conduct, leaving no aspect of their rebellion unaddressed.
- "have brought this upon you. This is your punishment": This two-part statement forms a clear, declarative cause-and-effect relationship. It attributes direct responsibility to Judah's actions for the ensuing catastrophe, affirming divine justice and the principle of moral consequences. The judgment is not just happening to them, but because of them.
- "How bitter it is! How it reaches your very heart!": These exclamations serve as a powerful double lament, expressing intense anguish. The bitterness describes the sensory and emotional experience of suffering, while reaching the "heart/soul" highlights the deep, existential, and inescapable nature of the pain, affirming its comprehensive and devastating impact on the entire being.
Jeremiah 4 18 Bonus section
- Irrevocable Moment: In the context of Jeremiah 4, this verse signifies a point where the warnings have transitioned into the certainty of judgment. While earlier chapters still held a glimmer of hope for repentance, here, the consequences are presented as an established, inevitable reality, now fully manifested and acknowledged as their just dessert.
- Divine Passive (Implied): While Judah's "ways and deeds" are the explicit subject bringing about the punishment, the ultimate agency behind the justness of that punishment, and indeed the orchestration of the northern invader, remains God. He allows and decrees these consequences to unfold.
- Prophetic Sympathy: Despite the severity of the message, the exclamations in the verse resonate with Jeremiah's personal suffering (as seen in Jer 4:19 and subsequent "confessions"). This suggests that while pronouncing divine judgment, the prophet deeply empathizes with the future agony of his people.
Jeremiah 4 18 Commentary
Jeremiah 4:18 stands as a stark and unvarnished pronouncement of divine justice. It shatters any illusion that Judah's impending destruction is random misfortune or unprovoked divine wrath. Instead, it asserts the painful truth: their calamity is precisely what they have cultivated through their unholy "ways" and "deeds." This is the harvest of their consistent apostasy, covenant breaking, and social injustice. The judgment is portrayed not as external damage but as an intrinsic consequence that arises from their own actions, aptly called "your punishment." The emotive exclamations, "How bitter it is! How it reaches your very heart!", are not merely descriptive but serve as a profound lament, capturing the raw, gut-wrenching, and existential agony of divine discipline. The suffering penetrates beyond superficiality, afflicting the very core of their national and individual identity. The verse serves as a crucial theological reminder that God's justice is perfect, and rebellion against Him carries deeply personal and utterly inescapable consequences, demonstrating the severity of sin and the profound pain it brings.