Jeremiah 10:23

King James Version

O Lord , I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I know, Lord,that a person’s way of life is not his own;no one who walks determines his own steps.

Hebrew Names Version
LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

English Standard Version
I know, O Lord , that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

New American Standard Bible
I know, LORD, that a person's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.

New Century Version
Lord , I know that our lives don't really belong to us. We can't control our own lives.

Amplified Bible
O LORD, I know that the path of [life of] a man is not in himself; It is not within [the limited ability of] man [even one at his best] to choose and direct his steps [in life].

World English Bible
Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Geneva Bible (1587)
O Lord, I knowe, that the way of man is not in himselfe, neyther is it in man to walke and to direct his steps.

Legacy Standard Bible
I know, O Yahweh, that a man's way is not in himself,Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

Berean Standard Bible
I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

Contemporary English Version
I know, Lord , that we humans are not in control of our own lives.

Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai , I know that the way of humans is not in their control, humans are not able to direct their steps as they walk.

Darby Translation
I know, Jehovah, that the way of man is not his own; it is not in a man that walketh to direct his steps.

Easy-to-Read Version
Lord , I know that our lives do not belong to us. We have no control over what happens.

George Lamsa Translation
I know that the ways of the LORD are not like the ways of men; he does not walk as a man directing his steps.

Good News Translation
Lord , I know that none of us are in charge of our own destiny; none of us have control over our own life.

Lexham English Bible
I know, O Yahweh, that to the human is not his own way, nor to a person is the walking and the directing of his own step.

Literal Translation
O Jehovah, I know that his way does not belong to man; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now I knowe (o LORDE) that is not in mas power to ordre his owne waies, or to rule his owne steppes & goinges.

American Standard Version
O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Bible in Basic English
O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh.

King James Version (1611)
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himselfe: it is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nowe I knowe (O Lord) that it is not in mans power to order his owne wayes, or to rule his owne steppes and goinges.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I know, O Lord, that man’s way is not his own; neither shall a man go, and direct his going.

English Revised Version
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lord, Y woot, that the weie of a man is not of hym, nether it is of a man that he go, and dresse hise steppis.

Update Bible Version
O Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in a man that walks to direct his steps.

Webster's Bible Translation
O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

New English Translation
Lord , we know that people do not control their own destiny. It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.

New King James Version
O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

New Living Translation
I know, Lord , that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.

New Life Bible
O Lord, I know that a man's way is not known by himself. It is not in man to lead his own steps.

New Revised Standard
I know, O Lord , that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I know O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth, pertaineth his own path, - Not, to the man who walketh, also to direct his own steps.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.

Revised Standard Version
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

Young's Literal Translation
I have known, O Jehovah, that not of man [is] his way, Not of man the going and establishing of his step.

THE MESSAGE
I know, God , that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life. So correct us, God , as you see best. Don't lose your temper. That would be the end of us. Vent your anger on the godless nations, who refuse to acknowledge you, And on the people who won't pray to you— The very ones who've made hash out of Jacob, yes, made hash And devoured him whole, people and pastures alike.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. ¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord , Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so. ¹⁹ Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. ²⁰ My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. ²¹ For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord : therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. ²² Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. ²³ O Lord , I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. ²⁴ O Lord , correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. ²⁵ Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 17:5, Psalms 37:23, Psalms 119:116, Psalms 119:117, Proverbs 16:1, Proverbs 20:24

Reciprocal: Judges 20:28 - Shall I yet 1 Samuel 23:2 - inquired 1 Chronicles 29:18 - keep Ezra 8:21 - to seek Psalms 51:12 - uphold Proverbs 3:5 - and Proverbs 3:6 - and Proverbs 4:3 - General Proverbs 16:9 - General Daniel 5:23 - and whose Mark 14:31 - he spake Luke 22:33 - I am 1 Corinthians 16:7 - if 2 Thessalonians 3:5 - the Lord

Cross-References

Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Jeremiah 25:20
And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself,.... Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of that well known man Nebuchadnezzar, whose way was not in himself, and was not master of his own resolutions, but was under the influence and direction of divine Providence: when he set out of Babylon, he thought to have gone against the Ammonites; but when he came to a place where two ways met; the one leading to the children of Ammon, the other to Jerusalem; God changed his mind, and he steered his course to Jerusalem, to chastise Zedekiah for the breach of his oath: but the words seem to have a more general meaning; and the sense to be, that the prophet knew that it was not with him, nor with any of the godly, to escape the judgments that were coming upon them; that they were entirely in the hands of the Lord, to be guided, directed, and disposed of at his pleasure. The words may be accommodated to spiritual things and the affair of salvation; and be rendered thus, "I know, O Lord, that not for man is his way" d; his own way is not good for him; not his sinful way, for this is opposite to God's way, and a going out of it; it is not according to his word; it is after the course of the world; and it is a dark and crooked way, and leads to, and ends in, destruction and death, if grace prevent not: nor the way of his own righteousness; this is no way of access to God, no way of acceptance with him, no way of justification before him, no way of salvation, no way to heaven, and eternal happiness; that which is the good and right way, the only way of salvation, is not of man, in him, or with him naturally; it is not of his devising and contriving, and much less of his effecting; it is not even within his knowledge; and so far as he knows anything of it, he does not approve of it: but it is of God; the scheme of it is of his forming; it is a work wrought out by Christ; it is a way of salvation revealed in the Gospel; and the thing itself is savingly made known, and applied by the Spirit of God; all which is known and owned when men are spiritually enlightened:

it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps; as not in natural and civil things, much less in religious ones; a good man is one that "walks", which supposes life and strength, without which there can be no walking; and a progression, a going on in a way; which ways are Christ, and his ordinances the path of doctrine and of duty; yet it is not even in this good man "to direct" and order "his steps" of himself; it is the Lord that must do it, and does; he can take no step aright without him; he is guided by him and his Spirit, both in the path of truth and of obedience; and hence it is that the saints persevere unto the end; see Psalms 37:23.

d ידעתי יהוה כי לא לאדם דרכו "novi, Jehovah, quod non sit homini via ejus", Schmidt; so Vatablus, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The lamentation of the daughter of Zion, the Jewish Church, at the devastation of the land, and her humble prayer to God for mercy.

Jeremiah 10:19

Grievous - Rather, “mortal,” i. e., fatal, incurable.

A grief - Or, “my grief.”

Jeremiah 10:20

tabernacle - i. e., “tent.” Jerusalem laments that her tent is plundered and her children carried into exile, and so “are not,” are dead Matthew 2:18, either absolutely, or dead to her in the remote land of their captivity. They can aid the widowed mother no longer in pitching her tent, or in hanging up the curtains round about it.

Jeremiah 10:21

Therefore they shall not prosper - Rather, “therefore they have not governed wisely.” “The pastors,” i. e., the kings and rulers Jeremiah 2:8, having sunk to the condition of barbarous and untutored men, could not govern wisely.

Jeremiah 10:22

The “great commotion” is the confused noise of the army on its march (see Jeremiah 8:16).

Dragons - i. e., jackals; see the marginal reference.

Jeremiah 10:23

At the rumour of the enemy’s approach Jeremiah utters in the name of the nation a supplication appropriate to men overtaken by the divine justice.

Jeremiah 10:24

With judgment - In Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28, the word “judgment” (with a different preposition) is rendered “in measure.” The contrast therefore is between punishment inflicted in anger, and that inflicted as a duty of justice, of which the object is the criminal’s reformation. Jeremiah prays that God would punish Jacob so far only as would bring him to true repentance, but that he would pour forth his anger upon the pagan, as upon that which opposes itself to God Jeremiah 10:25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 10:23. O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself — I will not pretend to dispute with thee; thou dost every thing wisely and justly; we have sinned, and thou hast a right to punish; and to choose that sort of punishment thou thinkest will best answer the ends of justice. We cannot choose; thou hast appointed us to captivity; we must not repine: yet,