The word from the Lord that Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
begins with Jeremiah giving a summary of his prophetic ministry and Judah’s response to his prophecies.
For twenty-three years the Lord had spoken persistently
to his people through Jeremiah and through all his servants the prophets.
The consistent message Jeremiah and the others had preached was, Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
Through his prophets the Lord had called on his people to repent of their idolatry and covenant disobedience so that they could experience the blessings of being in the land. But to the people the Lord says, You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear.
The Lord has warned them, Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. Yet you have not listened to me declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
The Lord’s persistence in calling his people to repentance was matched by their unwillingness to listen. Their choice to ignore the warnings of judgment would now bring harm to them instead of blessing.
The work of your hands
could refer either to idols made with their hands or to the evil things they did. The meaning here is ambiguous but the implications are the same; they have done evil.1 The repetition of the people’s unwillingness to listen in Jeremiah 25:4–7 only serves to emphasize the stubbornness of the people. They have not listened,
a word which can mean hearing, listening and obeying. All three meanings are implied here. The people have not heard; they have not listened, and they certainly have not obeyed2
4 L'Eternel vous a envoyé tous ses serviteurs, les prophètes, il les a envoyés dès le matin; et vous n'avez pas écouté, vous n'avez pas prêté l'oreille pour écouter.