Jeremiah 18:13
in Jeremiah 18Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
KJV
Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
4 notes on this verse(Verse 13) Therefore, thus says the Lord: Inquire of the nations, who has heard such dreadful things, which the virgin of Israel has done exceedingly? Therefore he brings this forward, saying: Inquire of the nations, and all the nations around, who has done this, who has heard of serving idols, what great things the virgin Israel has done? And he calls her a virgin because she has served only one God, as the Prophet says: God is known in Judah, his name is great in Israel (Psalm 75:2).
This site's exposition
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah
on Jeremiah 18:11-13
Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you opens with an offer, return ye now every one from his evil way, but the people close the door themselves, there is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices. Henry reads the despair as chosen rather than imposed, a people diagnosing their own case correctly and refusing the remedy anyway. Clarke reads the charge that the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing, a thing not found even among the heathen, as apostasy so unnatural that Israel's own defection outstrips the nations it was meant to instruct.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, It is a horrible thing, enough to make one tremble to think of it, that those who have made their condition sad by sinning should make it desperate by refusing to reform. Wilful impenitence is the grossest self-murder; and that is a horrible thing, which we should abhor the thought of.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Even among the heathen it was a thing unheard of, that a nation should lay aside its gods for foreign gods, though their gods are false gods. But Israel forsook the true God for foreign false gods. virgin of Israel-- (2Ki 19:21). It enhances their guilt, that Israel was the virgin whom God had specially betrothed to Him. horrible thing-- (Jer 5:30).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
But they shall say, We despair I know that they will say to you regarding your words that they do not heed them.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Shall one abandon from rocks of the field the snow of Lebanon Shall a man who needs to drink abandon water that flows from the rock in the fields that comes from the snow of the Lebanon, which is clean?
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. 5 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
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֗ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| כֹּ֚ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| שַֽׁאֲלוּ־ | shaalu- | ask | H7592 → | 171 times |
| נָא֙ | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| בַּגּוֹיִ֔ם | bagoyim | among the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| מִ֥י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| שָׁמַ֖ע | shama' | has he heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| כָּאֵ֑לֶּה | kaeleh | like these [things] | H428 → | 746 times |
| שַֽׁעֲרֻרִת֙ | shaarurit | a horrible [thing] | H8186 → | 4 times |
| עָשְׂתָ֣ה | ʾasetah | she has done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מְאֹ֔ד | meod | exceedingly | H3966 → | 300 times |
| בְּתוּלַ֖ת | betulat | [the] virgin of | H1330 → | 50 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
כֹּ֚הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
שַֽׁאֲלוּ־ask
shaalu-H7592 →171 times
נָא֙please
na'H4994 →404 times
בַּגּוֹיִ֔םamong the nations
bagoyimH1471 →561 times
מִ֥יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
שָׁמַ֖עhas he heard
shama'H8085 →1159 times
כָּאֵ֑לֶּהlike these [things]
kaelehH428 →746 times
שַֽׁעֲרֻרִת֙a horrible [thing]
shaaruritH8186 →4 times
עָשְׂתָ֣הshe has done
ʾasetahH6213 →2628 times
מְאֹ֔דexceedingly
meodH3966 →300 times
בְּתוּלַ֖ת[the] virgin of
betulatH1330 →50 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 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 5:30A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:14
And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hosea 6:10
In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.
- Jeremiah 23:14
Through
Isaiah 66:8Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was…
it leads to
- Isaiah 64:4
From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
- Isaiah 64:4
Through
Jeremiah 23:14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:9–10
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 29:23
For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He…
- Ezekiel 22:25
The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
- Ezekiel 13:22–23
Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies, even though I have caused them no grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways to save their…
- Isaiah 1:9–10
Through
Hosea 6:10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.
it leads to
- Hosea 5:3
I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.
- Hosea 5:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.