Jeremiah 12:11
in Jeremiah 12They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
KJV
They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
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This verse in Jeremiah 12
Commentary
5 notes on this verseon Jeremiah 12:11-12
(Vers. 11, 12.) And the earth mourned, desolate it is, because there is no one who thinks in their heart. The devastators have come over all the paths of the desert, for the sword of the Lord has devoured from one end of the earth to the other: there is no peace for all flesh. LXX: Therefore the earth is utterly ruined, and the rest.
This site's exposition
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard
on Jeremiah 12:10-13
Many pastors continues the shepherd charge from 10:21, foreign kings and their armies named as the very shepherds who have trodden the pleasant portion into a desolate wilderness, the vineyard image widening the tent and flock pictures already used for the same ruin. Verse 13 states the futility bluntly, they have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns, labor spent for nothing because of the fierce anger of the Lord, and no man layeth it to heart in verse 11 names the desolation's deepest cause as much as its outcome, a land ruined with no one left who feels it.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He hath made it desolate: but it cannot be meant of God, for it is God that speaketh, and God is he mentioned in the next words; it must therefore either be understood of Nebuchadnezzar, the instrumental cause; or (one number being put for another) of the people or the rulers as the meritorious cause, and in that rueful state into which their sins had brought it, it cried onto God.
on Jeremiah 12:7-13
An intimation of mercy to God's people, in a denunciation of wrath against their neighbours that helped forward their affliction, that they should be plucked out; but with a promise that if they would at last join themselves with the people of God they should come in sharers with them in their privileges,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Desolate - The force of the protest lies in this word. Thrice the prophet uses it. Layeth it to heart - Rather, laid it “to heart.” The desolate land must put up its silent cry to God, because the people had refused to see the signs of the coming retribution.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Many shepherds The commanders of the troops of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, as it is stated above (6:3): “Shepherds and their flocks shall come to her.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׂמָהּ֙ | samah | he has made it | H7760 → | 584 times |
| לִשְׁמָמָ֔ה | lishmamah | into a desolation | H8076 → | |
| אָבְלָ֥ה | ʾavelah | it is in mourning | H56 → | 39 times |
| עָלַ֖י | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שְׁמֵמָ֑ה | shememah | desolate | H8077 → | 57 times |
| נָשַׁ֙מָּה֙ | nashamah | it has been made desolate | H8074 → | 86 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כִּ֛י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| אִ֖ישׁ | ʾish | [is] anyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| שָׂ֥ם | sam | [who] puts [it] | H7760 → | 584 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| לֵֽב׃ | lev | heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
שָׂמָהּ֙he has made it
samahH7760 →584 times
לִשְׁמָמָ֔הinto a desolation
lishmamahH8076 →
אָבְלָ֥הit is in mourning
ʾavelahH56 →39 times
עָלַ֖יon me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
שְׁמֵמָ֑הdesolate
shememahH8077 →57 times
נָשַׁ֙מָּה֙it has been made desolate
nashamahH8074 →86 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
כִּ֛יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
אִ֖ישׁ[is] anyone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
שָׂ֥ם[who] puts [it]
samH7760 →584 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
לֵֽב׃heart
levH3820 →595 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 14:2“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
- Jeremiah 8:21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Isaiah 3:26
Through
Jeremiah 23:10For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.
it leads to
- Psalms 107:34
and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Hosea 4:2–3
Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
- Jeremiah 5:7–8
“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
- Jeremiah 9:2
If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
- Psalms 107:34
Through
Zechariah 7:5“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
it leads to
- Zechariah 1:12
Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
- Isaiah 58:4–6
You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.
- Zechariah 1:12
Where this verse is studied
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About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.