Jeremiah 6:16

Context

Chapter 6 of Jeremiah contains a warning that Jerusalem will be besieged and destroyed by an enemy coming from the north. This verse is the word of God that Jeremiah delivered to the people of Judah as the Babylonian invasion approached. God urges the people to stand where many roads meet, to look, to "ask for the old paths, where is the good way," and to walk in it. He then promises, "ye shall find rest for your souls." The people, however, refuse: "We will not walk therein" (Jeremiah 6:16).

Immediately afterward, in verse 17, the people likewise declare that they will not listen to the sound of the watchman's trumpet: "We will not hearken." Verse 19 gives the reason for the coming calamity: "because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it." The verse is therefore read as part of an indictment of a people who rejected the opportunity to repent even when it was offered to them.

Interpretation

• Historical and contextual reading: Many commentators understand "the old paths" (Hebrew netivot olam, "ancient paths") as a life lived according to the covenant and the law given to the forefathers. Verse 19 of the same chapter and the covenant tradition of Deuteronomy are cited in support.
• Christ-centered reading: It is widely recognized that Matthew 11:29–30, in which Jesus says, "ye shall find rest unto your souls," borrows its wording from this verse. Protestant interpreters therefore connect the two passages, reading the true rest spoken of here as fulfilled in Christ.
• Return-to-Scripture reading: In Reformed and evangelical circles, "the old paths" are understood not as human customs but as the revealed Word. The verse is sometimes presented as a call to return to the teaching of Scripture and linked with the spirit of the Reformation.
• Tradition-oriented reading: Some interpreters cite the verse as grounds for recovering the confessions of faith and liturgical traditions that the church has preserved throughout its history.

Questions of Application

There is no significant doctrinal controversy among denominations over this verse. Some, however, point out that citing "the old paths" to mean "whatever is old is right" takes the verse out of context. In the text, the standard for the old paths is not antiquity itself but the fact that they are "the good way," a way that accords with the word of God. It is also noted that Jeremiah's temple sermon in chapter 7, by contrast, criticizes the familiar religious habit of repeating "The temple of the LORD."

Some translations render "stand ye in the ways" in the sense of "at the crossroads" or "at the junction of the roads." The Hebrew word that some versions translate as "peace" is closer in meaning to "rest" or "repose." The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, is reported to render this phrase with a word meaning "purification." Scholars also observe that the wording in Matthew is closer to the Hebrew text than to the Septuagint.

Related Passages

• Matthew 11:29–30
• Isaiah 30:15
• Deuteronomy 30:15–20
• Jeremiah 18:15
• Jeremiah 6:17