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 abandon the rock of the field? Or is the cold water flowing from afar pulled back? 15Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to a delusion and stumble in their ways— off the ancient paths— to walk on side-tracks, rather than a built-up highway. Their land will become a horror, a perpetual hissing— every one passing by will be stunned and shake his head. 17Like an east wind, I will scatter them before the enemy. I will see their back, not their face, in the day of their calamity.” 18Then they said: “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely Torah from the kohen will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor will the word from the prophet. Come, let’s strike at him with the tongue, and pay no attention to any of 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 9:11Who is the one wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?”
• Jeremiah 19:8And I will make this city a horror and a hissing—every one passing by will be stunned and hiss because of all her wounds.
• Jeremiah 25:9I will soon send for and bring all the families of the north”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, an enduring desolation.
• Jeremiah 49:13For I have sworn by Myself” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “that Bozrah will become a horror, a disgrace, a waste and a curse. All its towns will be ruins forever.”
• Jeremiah 50:13Because of Adonai’s wrath, it will be uninhabited, all waste. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled, hissing at all her wounds.
• Leviticus 26:33I will scatter you among the nations and I will draw out the sword after you. So your land will become a desolation and your cities will become a waste.
• Deuteronomy 29:23“All the nations will say, ‘Why has Adonai done this to this land? Why this great burning anger?’
• Isaiah 6:11Then I said, “Adonai, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate.
• Ezekiel 6:14I will stretch out My hand over them and make the land desolate and waste, more than the wilderness of Diblah, wherever they live. Then they will know that I am Adonai.”
• Ezekiel 12:19Say to the people of the land, this is what Adonai says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror, because her land will be stripped of all that is in it, because of the violence of all who live there.
• Ezekiel 33:28I will make the land a desolation and a horror. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through.’
• 1 Kings 9:8This House, now so exalted—everyone passing by it will gasp in shock and hiss, saying: ‘Why has Adonai done thus to this land and to this House?’
• 2 Chronicles 7:20then I will uproot them from My land which I gave them, and this House which I have consecrated for My Name I will cast out of My sight. I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
• Lamentations 2:15All who pass your way clap their hands at you. They hiss and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty,’ ‘the joy of the whole earth’?”
• Micah 6:16Now, you observe the statutes of Omri and every practice of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels. Therefore I will make you a horror, and her inhabitants a hissing, so you will bear the scorn of My people.
• Deuteronomy 28:59then Adonai will make your plagues and the plagues of your descendants extraordinary—terrible and prolonged plagues, severe and prolonged illnesses.

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