TodaysVerse.net
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
King James Version

Meaning

This verse comes from one of the most celebrated prophecies in the entire Bible — Jeremiah's announcement of a 'New Covenant' in chapter 31. Jeremiah was a prophet writing during one of Israel's darkest periods, when the nation was on the brink of conquest and exile by the Babylonians. God's earlier covenant with Israel — the agreement made at Mount Sinai involving laws, rituals, and obedience — had been repeatedly broken. Here, God announces something radically new: a coming day when knowing him won't be an external religious obligation requiring constant instruction, but something intimate and universal. The foundation of this entire promise is breathtaking: total forgiveness — God choosing to wipe the record clean and remember sins no more.

Prayer

God, I confess I often live as if you're still keeping score — as if my past is a weight you haven't fully lifted. Thank you for this outrageous promise: that you choose not to remember. Help me receive it not just as a doctrine to agree with, but as a daily reality to walk in. Teach me to live in the freedom you've already given. Amen.

Reflection

There's something quietly revolutionary here if you sit with it long enough. Imagine a world where nobody has to nudge their neighbor toward God — not because everyone gave up, but because everyone already knows him. Not knows about him, the way you know a historical figure — but knows him the way you know someone you love. No more religious gatekeepers, no more prerequisite classes, no hierarchy of the enlightened explaining God to the uninitiated. Just wide-open, direct knowing, from the youngest child to the oldest elder. But notice what the hinge of this entire promise is: not moral reform, not better behavior, not religious effort — forgiveness. God says he will 'remember their sins no more.' This isn't denial or divine amnesia. It's a choice. God, who knows everything, chooses not to hold your record against you. That kind of forgiveness doesn't just clear a slate — it fundamentally changes what relationship becomes possible. You approach someone who has forgiven you completely differently than someone who is quietly keeping score. Through Jesus, Jeremiah's prophecy has arrived. You are living on the inside of this new covenant right now. The question is whether you're actually living like it.

Discussion Questions

1

Jeremiah wrote this promise during a time of national disaster and failure. How does knowing the context of suffering and exile shape the way you read and receive what God is saying here?

2

What would it feel like to truly believe that God has chosen not to remember your sins — not just forgiven them in some technical sense, but actively decided not to hold them? What gets in the way of you believing that on an ordinary Tuesday?

3

This verse describes a day when external religious instruction becomes unnecessary because everyone knows God directly. What do you think is the real difference between knowing about God and actually knowing him?

4

If you genuinely believed this verse about forgiveness, how would it change the way you extend — or withhold — forgiveness toward someone who has hurt you?

5

Is there a specific failure from your past that you keep dragging back in front of yourself, even though God says he's chosen not to remember it? What would one small step toward releasing that look like this week?

Related Verses

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

Hebrews 10:16

Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

Isaiah 48:17

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jeremiah 31:31

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

1 John 2:27

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Isaiah 43:25

As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Isaiah 59:21

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

1 Chronicles 28:9

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalms 103:12

Translations

And each man will no longer teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me [through personal experience], from the least of them to the greatest," says the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will no longer remember their sin."

AMP

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

ESV

'They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the LORD, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'

NASB

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

NIV

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

NKJV

And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

NLT

They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They'll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever sinned!" God's Decree.

MSG