Jeremiah 18:16
in Jeremiah 18They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
KJV
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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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Hissing - 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.
This site's exposition
Does the snow of Lebanon ever
on Jeremiah 18:14-17
The LORD argues from the constancy of nature: “Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes?” “Yet My people have forgotten Me,” leaving “the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.” The scattering “like the east wind” recalls the desert wind.
This site's exposition
They have made their land a desolation
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the verse sets the desolation down as the people's own purpose, since their ways made it certain. Albert Barnes reads the shaken heads of all who pass by as shock and pity, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read them as mockery.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Shall the breasts fail from the rock, or the snow from Lebanon? Or shall water be turned aside that is borne violently by the wind? For my people have forgotten me; they have burned incense in vain, and they shall grow weak in their ways, the everlasting paths, so as to walk in tracks that have no way for journeying, so as to make their land a desolation and a perpetual hissing." He has here spoken of differences of waters: first in "shall the breasts fail from the rock?"; second in "or the snow from Lebanon?"; third in "or shall water be turned aside that is borne violently by the wind?" These three kinds of waters are the springs of the waters which the soul of the righteous, likened to the deer, longs for, so that each one may say: "As the deer longs for the springs of the waters, so my soul longs for you, O God." Who, then, has become a deer, an enemy to the race of serpents, suffering nothing from their venom, as is recounted concerning the deer? Who has so thirsted for God as to say, "My soul thirsted for the living God"? Who has so thirsted for the breasts of the rock? "And the rock was Christ." Who has so thirsted for the Holy Spirit as to say, "As the deer longs for the springs of the waters, so my soul longs for you, O God"? If we do not thirst for the three springs of the waters, we shall find not even one spring of the waters. The Jews seemed to have thirsted for one spring of the waters, God; but since they did not thirst for Christ and the Holy Spirit, they cannot drink even from God. Those from the heresies seemed to have thirsted for Christ Jesus; but since they did not thirst for the Father, who is the God of the Law and the Prophets, therefore they do not drink even from Jesus Christ. […]
(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.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
To make their land desolate,....
The prophet's complaint to God of the base ingratitude and unreasonable malice of his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and his prayers against them,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A perpetual hissing - שריקות sherikoth. a shrieking, hissing; an expression of contempt.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
For so have My people done, that they have forgotten Me and burnt incense to vanity.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָשׂ֥וּם | lasum | to make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אַרְצָ֛ם | ʾartzam | land their | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לְשַׁמָּ֖ה | leshamah | into a waste | H8047 → | 39 times |
| שְׁרִיק֣וֹת | sherukat | whistling of | H8292 → | |
| עוֹלָ֑ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| כֹּ֚ל | kol | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עוֹבֵ֣ר | over | [one who] passes by | H5674 → | 556 times |
| עָלֶ֔יהָ | ʾaleiha | at it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יִשֹּׁ֖ם | yishom | he will be appalled | H8074 → | 86 times |
| וְיָנִ֥יד | veyanid | and he may wag | H5110 → | 24 times |
| בְּרֹאשֽׁוֹ׃ | berosho | with head his | H7218 → | 599 times |
לָשׂ֥וּםto make
lasumH7760 →584 times
אַרְצָ֛םland their
ʾartzamH776 →2504 times
לְשַׁמָּ֖הinto a waste
leshamahH8047 →39 times
שְׁרִיק֣וֹתwhistling of
sherukatH8292 →
עוֹלָ֑םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
כֹּ֚לevery
kolH3605 →5413 times
עוֹבֵ֣ר[one who] passes by
overH5674 →556 times
עָלֶ֔יהָat it
ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times
יִשֹּׁ֖םhe will be appalled
yishomH8074 →86 times
וְיָנִ֥ידand he may wag
veyanidH5110 →24 times
בְּרֹאשֽׁוֹ׃with head his
beroshoH7218 →599 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 27:39And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
it leads to
- Psalms 109:25
I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 1:12
Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day…
- Psalms 109:25
Through
Psalms 22:7All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:
it leads to
- Mark 15:29
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
- Matthew 27:39–40
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
- Mark 15:29
Through
Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:15
For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.…
- Isaiah 13:3
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Ezekiel 29:18–20
“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from…
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Jeremiah 1:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.