My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 13:15 Mean?
Jeremiah issues a three-part command: hear, give ear, be not proud. And the reason for all three: the LORD hath spoken. The simplicity is the weight. There's nothing to argue about. God has spoken. The only appropriate response is humble attention.
"Be not proud" (ga'ah) is the central command. Pride is the thing that prevents hearing. When you're proud, you filter everything through your own superiority. You decide in advance what's worth listening to. You edit God's words to fit your preferences. Humility is the prerequisite for hearing God — because pride makes you deaf.
The sequence — hear, give ear, be not proud — moves from external action to internal posture. Hearing is physical. Giving ear is attentive. Being humble is the heart condition that makes both possible.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where is pride preventing you from hearing something God is saying?
- 2.What's the difference between healthy confidence and the kind of pride that makes you deaf to God?
- 3.When was the last time you heard something from God you didn't want to hear — and what did you do with it?
- 4.How do you cultivate the humility Jeremiah describes as the prerequisite for hearing God?
Devotional
Hear. Give ear. Don't be proud. Because the LORD has spoken.
Three commands, and the third one explains why the first two are so hard. The reason you can't hear God isn't that He's quiet. It's that you're proud. Pride doesn't block your ears — it filters what gets through. You hear what flatters, what confirms, what agrees. Everything else gets edited out before it reaches your heart.
"Be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken." The logic is airtight. If God has spoken, pride is irrational. You're not debating with an equal. You're not evaluating a peer's opinion. The LORD — the creator of your ears, your mind, your capacity to think — has spoken. Pride in that context isn't strength. It's absurdity.
Jeremiah's audience couldn't hear what God was saying because they'd already decided they knew better. The prophets warned. The people shrugged. The warnings got louder. The pride got harder. And eventually, the only thing left was destruction — because pride had made them deaf to everything that could have saved them.
The test is simple: when God speaks something you don't want to hear, what do you do? If you argue, dismiss, or explain away — that's pride. If you bow — if you hear, give ear, and humble yourself — that's the posture God is asking for.
He's spoken. Are you proud enough to ignore it?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Give glory to the Lord your God,.... By confessing sin unto him; by humiliation for it before him; by believing what he…
Be not proud - Both the symbols were of a nature very humiliating to the national self-respect.
Here is, I. A judgment threatened against this people that would quite intoxicate them. This doom is pronounced against…
Let Judah beware while there is time
The prophet bids them acknowledge Jehovah, by submission and obedience, before…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture