Jeremiah 44:16
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
Study Note
Study Note
The community in Egypt defiantly declares they will not obey the Lord's word spoken through Jeremiah — a final act of covenant rejection following decades of prophetic warning. This response represents one of Scripture's starkest examples of hardened disobedience: not ignorance or confusion, but deliberate refusal ('we will not hearken unto thee'). The context is striking — having just survived the fall of Jerusalem, this remnant attributes their troubles to having stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven (44:17-18), inverting prophetic causality entirely. The episode illustrates the prophetic paradox: the more clearly God's word is spoken, the more sharply it divides between those who receive and those who harden.
Other Translations
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee.
`The word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah--we are not hearkening unto thee;
As for the word which you have said to us in the name of the Lord, we will not give ear to you.
Cross References
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not …
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. …
I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I …