Jeremiah 6:7 describes Jerusalem’s sin as something that flows constantly from within the city, the way water pours out of a healthy well. The prophet says the people produce wickedness as naturally as a spring produces water, and that violence, destruction, sickness and wounds are a continual presence in the city. The words come from Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of the LORD of Armies to the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding nation of Judah.
As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me.
Jeremiah 6:7 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 6:7 Means
The image at the start is the key. A well is not something that gets filled from outside on occasion. It is a source, and whatever comes out of it comes from deep underground and keeps coming. Jeremiah is saying that the city’s wrongdoing was not a few isolated mistakes. It was the normal output of a community whose heart had settled into injustice, so that oppression and cruelty were simply what the city generated.
The verse then names what that output looks like: violence and destruction are heard in the city, meaning they were the sounds of daily life, not rare events. The final sentence shifts to God’s perspective. Sickness and wounds are continually before the LORD, which means God sees the suffering clearly and without looking away. The verse does not promise a particular future or a specific punishment in this line. It diagnoses the condition and shows that the source of the problem lies within the people themselves.
The Context of Jeremiah 6:7
The book of Jeremiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who worked in Jerusalem in the years leading up to the Babylonian conquest in the early sixth century BC. The audience is the population of Jerusalem and Judah, and this chapter is a warning spoken as the threat of siege is taking shape. The verses just before describe an army preparing to attack the city, with orders to cut down trees and build siege ramps against its walls. Verse 8 follows with a plea for Jerusalem to be instructed before it is left in ruins.
Read in that setting, verse 7 is not a general comment about human nature. It is the reason the coming judgment is deserved. The city’s own corruption is what has made it a target, and the prophet is explaining why God’s patience is running out. The verse therefore works as the hinge between the approaching enemy and the moral cause behind it, and it tells the reader that the trouble is internal before it is external.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 6:7
Mark 7:21-23
21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
(WEB)
Jesus teaches that evil comes from within a person’s heart, not from outside influences. This echoes the picture in Jeremiah of wickedness flowing from a hidden source, and it shows that the problem Jeremiah named was one Jesus also addressed.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
(WEB)
David asks God to create a clean heart within him. The request answers Jeremiah’s diagnosis by seeking change at the source, which is where the verse locates the trouble.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 6:7
Lord, you see the wounds in every city and every home, and nothing about the pain we carry is hidden from you. Search the places within me where bitterness or unkindness rises like water from a spring. Expose what I have grown used to, and do not let me call it normal. Create in me a heart that produces what is good, and keep my eyes open to the suffering around me. Amen.
