Jeremiah 9:24 says that the only thing worth boasting about is understanding and knowing God, and that the God you come to know is one who acts with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on the earth. The verse is a direct word from the LORD, spoken through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah in the years before Jerusalem fell to Babylon. It cuts against the instinct to measure our worth by what we are good at, what we own, or how much power we hold.
But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for I delight in these things,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:24 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 9:24 Means
The verse begins with a choice about where a person finds their pride. God names three common sources of boasting: wisdom, might, and riches. Each one is real and can be useful, but none of them can carry the weight of a human life. The verse then offers a replacement: a person who wants to boast should boast in this, that they have understanding and truly know the LORD.
To know God in the biblical sense means more than holding correct information about him. It describes a relationship of attention, trust, and obedience, the way you come to know a friend over years. The verse then describes what that God is like: he practices loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth. These are not abstract qualities. They describe how God deals with people and how he wants his people to deal with one another.
The verse does not promise that understanding will make life easy or that knowing God will spare anyone from suffering. The chapter around it is full of grief and judgment. What it does promise is that God himself is the proper ground of pride and that he takes pleasure in justice and kindness shown in the world.
The Context of Jeremiah 9:24
The book of Jeremiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke God’s messages to Judah in the decades before the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC. The people he addressed were proud of their temple, their leaders, their military alliances, and their standing as God’s chosen nation. Jeremiah repeatedly confronted that confidence, warning that it had become a false security.
Verses 21 through 22 describe death entering the homes and streets of the city, with bodies left unburied across the fields. Verse 23 then turns to the powerful and the prosperous: the wise, the mighty, and the rich are told not to boast in what they have. Verse 24 gives the alternative, and verses 25 and 26 widen the frame to show that outward signs like circumcision mean little when hearts are far from God. Read this way, the verse is not a general motivational saying. It is God’s correction to a nation that was trusting in the wrong things.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 9:24
1 Corinthians 1:31
That, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
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Paul echoes Jeremiah’s principle in this verse, bringing the same instruction into the New Testament. He draws on the very command to boast only in the Lord, showing that the Christian life continues the prophet’s call to find our glory in God rather than in human accomplishment.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
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Micah offers a short summary of what the LORD requires: justice, kindness, and humble walking with God. Read alongside Jeremiah 9:24, it reinforces that knowing God shows itself in justice and mercy in ordinary life.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 9:24
Lord, I confess how easily I look to my own wisdom, strength, and possessions for a sense of worth. Teach me to set those down and to take my pride from knowing you. Help me grow in understanding and to walk with you each day rather than only talking about you. Shape me to practice the kindness, justice, and righteousness that you delight in, so that my life points others toward you. Amen.
