Jeremiah 18:16

To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
make	לָשׂ֥וּם la.Sum	H7760	to put (used in a great variety of applications · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
land	אַרְצָ֛ם 'ar.Tzam	H776	the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
desolate	לְשַׁמָּ֖ה le.sha.Mah	H8047	ruin · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
perpetual	עוֹלָ֑ם o.Lam	H5769	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hissing	שְׁרִיק֣וֹת she.ru.kat	H8292	a whistling (in scorn) · noun, common feminine plural construct
passeth	עוֹבֵ֣ר o.Ver	H5674	to cross over · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
astonished	יִשֹּׁ֖ם yi.Shom	H8074	to stun (or intransitively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wag	וְיָנִ֥יד ve.ya.Nid	H5110	to nod · conjunction + verb, hiphil, 3rd person masculine singular
head	בְּרֹאשֽׁוֹ be.ro.Sho	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Jeremiah 25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bri…
Jeremiah 19:8 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues t…
1 Kings 9:8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD do…
Jeremiah 49:13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities ther…
Jeremiah 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astoni…
Ezekiel 33:28-29 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none sh…
Micah 6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolati…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:11-17

These verses seem to be the application of the general truths laid down in the foregoing part of the chapter to the nation of the Jews and their present state. I. God was now speaking concerning them to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; for it is that part of the rule of judgment that their case agrees with (Jer 18:11): "Go, and tell them" (saith God), "Behold I frame evil against you and devise against you. Providence in all its operations is plainly working towards your ruin. Look upon your conduct towards God, and you cannot but see that you deserve it; look upon his dealings with you, and you cannot but see that he designs it." He frames evil, as the potter frames the vessel, s…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:16

hissing-- (Kg1 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 (Kg2 19:21; Mat 27:39). As "wag . . . head" answers to "hissing," so "astonished" answers to "desolate," for which, therefore, MUNSTER and others rather translate, "an object of wonder" (Jer 19:8).

John Gill on Jeremiah 18:16

To make their land desolate,.... Not that this was the intention either of those that led them out of the right way into those wrong paths, or of them that went into them; but so it was eventually; this was the issue of things; their idolatry and other sins were the cause of their land being desolate; through the ravage of the enemy, let in upon them by way of judgment; and through the destruction of men by them; so that there were few or none to cultivate and manure it: and a perpetual hissing; to be hissed at perpetually by the enemy, whenever they passed by it, and observed its desolation; thereby expressing their hatred at its inhabitants; their joy at its desolation; and their satisfac…

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The Church Fathers

(Verse 16.) So that their land became a desolation and an eternal hissing, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head. And because they have forsaken the worship of God and followed the wicked paths of idolatry, therefore their land has been reduced to a wilderness and a wonder of all hissing, so that those who once saw the land and the flourishing city now see it as a desert and a heap of ashes, and they marvel and are astonished, and show the confusion of their souls by the movement of their bodies; for this is to shake the head and demonstrate the astonishment of the mind in silence. That which we understand to be more fully and accurately fulfilled after the coming of the Lord, when no Jew is allowed to enter the land and the holy City by law; but when they come to the earth, they marvel and weep over the prophecies of the Prophets, fulfilled by their deeds.
— Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Jeremiah 18:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:11-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:16

John Gill on Jeremiah 18:16

The Church Fathers

Jeremiah 18:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 18:11-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 18:16

John Gill on Jeremiah 18:16

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on Jeremiah 18:16

Keil & Delitzsch on Jeremiah 18:11-17

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 18:16-17

Rashi on Jeremiah 18:16