Jeremiah 18:16

Jeremiah 18:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
• New International Version (NIV)Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.
• English Standard Version (ESV)making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
• New King James Version (NKJV)To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.

Context of Jeremiah 18:16

14Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail? 15Yet my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads, and make them walk on new paths, not the highway. They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by it will be appalled and shake their heads. 17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them my back and not my face on the day of their calamity. 18Then certain ones said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or a word from the prophet. Come, let’s denounce him and pay no attention to all his words.”

Jeremiah 18:16 word by word

לָשׂ֥וּם אַרְצָ֛ם לְשַׁמָּ֖ה שְׁרִיק֣וֹת עוֹלָ֑ם כֹּ֚ל עוֹבֵ֣ר עָלֶ֔יהָ יִשֹּׁ֖ם וְיָנִ֥יד בְּרֹאשֽׁוֹ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• To makeשׂוּםώûm ώîym · to set: makeH7760
• their landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• desolateשַׁמָּהshammâh · horror: appalledH8047
• a perpetualעוֹלָם‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm · forever: enduringH5769
• hissingשְׁרִיקָהsherûqâh sherîyqâh · pipingH8292
• every one that passethעָבַר‛âbar · to passH5674
• thereby shall be astonishedשָׁמֵםshâmêm · be desolate: appalledH8074
• and wagנוּדnûd · to wanderH5110
• his headרֹאשׁrô'sh · headH7218

Cross-references for Jeremiah 18:16

• Jeremiah 9:11I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals’ den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.
• Jeremiah 19:8I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and scoff because of all its wounds.
• Jeremiah 25:9I am going to send for all the families of the north’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever.
• Jeremiah 49:13For by myself I have sworn” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and an example for cursing, and all its surrounding cities will become ruins forever.”
• Jeremiah 50:13Because of the Lord’s wrath, she will not be inhabited; she will become a desolation, every bit of her. Everyone who passes through Babylon will be appalled and scoff because of all her wounds.
• Leviticus 26:33But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins.
• Deuteronomy 29:23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown, producing nothing, with no plant growing on it, just like the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord demolished in his fierce anger.
• Isaiah 6:11Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,
• Ezekiel 6:14I will stretch out my hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
• Ezekiel 12:19Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the Lord God says about the residents of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in dread, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there.
• Ezekiel 33:28I will make the land a desolate waste, and its proud strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, with no one passing through.
• 1 Kings 9:8Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff. They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?”
• 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot Israel from the soil that I gave them, and this temple that I have sanctified for my name I will banish from my presence; I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
• Lamentations 2:15All who pass by scornfully clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?
• Micah 6:16The statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house have been observed; you have followed their policies. Therefore, I will make you a desolate place and the city’s residents an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of my people.”
• Deuteronomy 28:59he will bring wondrous plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 18:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16A perpetual hissing - שריקות sherikoth . a shrieking, hissing; an expression of contempt.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Hissing - Not derision, but the drawing in of the breath quickly as men do when they shudder. Way his head - Or, “shake his head,” a sign among the Jews not of scorn but of pity. The desolation of the land of Israel is to fill people with dismay.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-17Verses 11-17 Sinners call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts, is the very worst slavery. They forsook God for idols. When men are parched with heat, and meet with cooling, refreshing streams, they use them. In these things men will not leave a certainty for an uncertainty; but Israel left the ancient paths appointed by the Divine law. They walked not in the highway, in which they might travel safely, but in a way in…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-17The Lord declared judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. They have made their land a desolation...I will scatter them: Between 605 and 586 BC, Judah and Jerusalem gradually lost their residents. like the east wind: In the summer, a strong hot wind from the east can blow sand and dust from the desert into Judah. I will show them My back: The people would no longer have a covenant relationship with the Lord.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. hissing--(1Ki 9:8). In sign of contempt. That which was to be only the event is ascribed to the purpose of the people, although altogether different from what they would have been likely to hope for. Their purpose is represented as being the destruction of their country, because it was the inevitable result of their course of acting. wag ... head--in mockery (2Ki 19:21; Mt 27:39). As "wag ... head" answers to "hissing," so "astonished" answers to…Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 18:16

• Church
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning

In the dictionaries

• Smite
• Wag
• Gesture
• Head
• Hiss
• Providence

Commentaries on Jeremiah 18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings