Jeremiah 15:7
in Jeremiah 15I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they returned not from their ways.
KJV
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
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This verse in Jeremiah 15
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will fan them ... - Or, “I have winnowed them with a winnowing shovel.” The “gates of the land” mean the places by which men enter or leave it. As God winnows them they are driven out of the land through all its outlets in every direction. I will bereave - Rather, “I have bereaved, I have destroyed my people.” Omit “of children.” Since they return not ... - Rather, “from their ways they have not returned.”
This site's exposition
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem?
on Jeremiah 15:5-9
The question who shall have pity, who shall bemoan thee, pictures a city so friendless in judgment that no one even turns aside to ask how she fares. Keil reads I am weary with repenting as bold covenant language, not a change in the Lord's own character but a description of how many times mercy had already been extended and refused before this final word. The widow count above the sand of the seas and the mother of the young men struck at noonday describe a population loss so total that ordinary mourning customs, a spoiler expected under cover of night, are overturned; this horror comes in daylight.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7.) And I will scatter them with a winnowing fan at the gates of the land (or my people). I have killed and destroyed (Vulgate: scattered and destroyed) my people; yet they have not returned from their wicked ways. What use is it for me to be asked repeatedly, when they do not return from their wicked ways and do not repent? For I have scattered them like chaff, to cleanse my threshing floor. And I scattered them at the gates of the land, to tread upon the thresholds like the depths of hell.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
A fan - Not a purging fan by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a scattering fan. In the gates - This is added in pursuit of the metaphor of fanning, men usually chusing barn-doors to fan at, that they may have the advantage of the wind.
): They return not from their ways, the ways of their own hearts, into the ways of God's commandments again. There is mercy for those who have turned aside if they will return; but what favour can those expect that persist in their apostasy? It is such as denotes no less than an utter ruin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land,....
(3.) Their own children, that should assist them when they speak with the enemy in the gate, shall be cut off from them: I will bereave them of children, so that they shall have little hopes that the next generation will retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my people; and, when the inhabitants are slain, the land will soon be desolate.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
fan--tribulation--from tribulum, a threshing instrument, which separates the chaff from the wheat (Mt 3:12). gates of the land--that is, the extreme bounds of the land through which the entrance to and exit from it lie. MAURER translates, "I will fan," that is, cast them forth "to the gates of the land" (Na 3:13).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
I will fan them with a fan - There is no pure grain; all is chaff. In the gates of the land - The places of public justice: and there it shall be seen that the judgments that have fallen upon them have been highly merited. And from these places of fanning they shall go out into their captivity.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֶזְרֵ֥ם | vaezrem | and I have winnowed them | H2219 → | 39 times |
| בְּמִזְרֶ֖ה | bemizreh | with a winnowing scoop | H4214 → | |
| בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֣י | beshaarei | in [the] gates of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| שִׁכַּ֤לְתִּי | shikalti | I have made childless | H7921 → | |
| אִבַּ֙דְתִּי֙ | ʾibadti | I have destroyed | H6 → | 184 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עַמִּ֔י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| מִדַּרְכֵיהֶ֖ם | midarkheihem | from ways their | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לוֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָֽׁבוּ׃ | shavu | they have turned away | H7725 → | 1056 times |
וָאֶזְרֵ֥םand I have winnowed them
vaezremH2219 →39 times
בְּמִזְרֶ֖הwith a winnowing scoop
bemizrehH4214 →
בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֣יin [the] gates of
beshaareiH8179 →374 times
הָאָ֑רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
שִׁכַּ֤לְתִּיI have made childless
shikaltiH7921 →
אִבַּ֙דְתִּי֙I have destroyed
ʾibadtiH6 →184 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עַמִּ֔יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
מִדַּרְכֵיהֶ֖םfrom ways their
midarkheihemH1870 →707 times
לוֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
שָֽׁבוּ׃they have turned away
shavuH7725 →1056 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
Matthew 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
it leads to
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Isaiah 41:16
You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 51:2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 13:30
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
- Luke 3:17
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Malachi 4:1
Through
Jeremiah 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:30
“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
- Jeremiah 2:30
Through
Isaiah 9:13But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.
it leads to
- Hosea 7:10
Israel’s arrogance testifies against them, yet they do not return to the LORD their God; despite all this, they do not seek Him.
- Hosea 7:10
Through
Isaiah 41:16You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
it leads to
- Isaiah 61:10–11
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…
- Isaiah 61:10–11
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.