Jeremiah 7:23 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

But this thing commanded I them. — The words that follow are a composite quotation, partly from the lately re-found Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 5:33), partly from the words that were strictly true of the “day” when Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 19:5), partly from the very book which seemed to be most characterised by sacrificial ritual, Leviticus (Leviticus 26:12). The influence of Jeremiah’s teaching on later Jewish thought is shown by the fact that this very section of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:21-28) appears in the Synagogue ritual as the Haphtara, or second lesson from the prophets, after Leviticus 6-8, as the Parashah, or first lesson from the Law. The Synagogue worship, indeed, was, in the nature of the case, the result of the teaching of scribes and prophets rather than of priests, and therefore a witness for the spiritual truth symbolised in sacrifice, and not for the perpetuation of the symbol.