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

14The rocky slopes of Lebanon are never without snow. The cool mountain streams never dry up. 15But my people have forgotten me. They burn incense as an offering to worthless idols, and they stumble along the way, on the ancient path. They go on side roads and not on major highways. Their land will become desolate and something to be hissed at forever. Everyone who will pass by it will be stunned and shake his head. 17Like the east wind I will scatter them in front of the enemy. On the day of their disaster, I will show them my back, not my face.” 18Then they said, “Let’s plot against Jeremiah, because the teachings of the priests, the advice of wise people, and the word of the prophets won’t disappear. Accuse him! Pay no attention to anything he says.”

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 turn Jerusalem into a pile of rubble, a home for jackals. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one can live there.
• Jeremiah 19:8I will devastate this city. It will become something to hiss at. Everyone who goes by it will be stunned and hiss with contempt at all the disasters that happen to it.
• Jeremiah 25:9so I’m going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, declares the Lord. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I’m going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined.
• Jeremiah 49:13I take an oath on myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah will become a pile of rubble. It will become something horrifying, ridiculed, ruined, and cursed. All its cities will lie in ruins permanently.
• Jeremiah 50:13No one will live in Babylon because of the Lord’s anger. It will be completely abandoned. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and hiss at all its wounds.
• Leviticus 26:33I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted.
• Deuteronomy 29:23They will see all the soil poisoned with sulfur and salt. Nothing will be planted. Nothing will be growing. There will be no plants in sight. It will be as desolate as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, cities the Lord destroyed in fierce anger.
• Isaiah 6:11I asked, “How long, O Lord?” And he replied, “Until the cities lie in ruins with no one living in them, the houses have no people, and the land is completely desolate.
• Ezekiel 6:14I will use my power against them and destroy the land, from the desert to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
• Ezekiel 12:19“Tell the people of this land, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says about the people who live in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will be worried as they eat their food and terrified as they drink their water. Their country will be stripped of everything because everyone who lives there is violent.
• Ezekiel 33:28I will turn the land into a barren wasteland. People will no longer brag about its power. The mountains of Israel will become so ruined that no one will travel through them.
• 1 Kings 9:8Everyone passing by this temple, as impressive as it is, will be appalled. They will gasp and ask, ‘Why did the Lord do these things to this land and this temple?’
• 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot Israel from the land I gave them. I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name. I will make it an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
• Lamentations 2:15Everyone who walks along the road shakes a fist at you. They hiss and shake their heads at Jerusalem’s people: ‘Is this the city they used to call absolutely beautiful, the joy of the whole world?’
• Micah 6:16You have kept Omri’s laws and all the practices of the descendants of Ahab, and you have followed their advice. That is why I will ruin you. Your people will be ridiculed. You will bear the disgrace of my people.”
• Deuteronomy 28:59If so, the Lord will strike you and your descendants with unimaginable plagues. They will be terrible and continuing plagues and severe and lingering diseases.

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