Jeremiah 18:14
in Jeremiah 18Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes? Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance ever run dry?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?
KJV
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 14.) Will the snow of Lebanon's mountain fail from the rock of the field? Or can the rushing, cold waters be removed? Septuagint: Will the breasts fail from the rock, or the snow from Lebanon, or will the violently lifted water decline? It sounds like something similar to Virgil's (Eclogue I, 60 seq.) Therefore, the gentle deer will feed in the sky, and the naked fish will leave the straits on the shore, before her face glides in our breast. And in another place (Aeneid. I, 611 seqq.)
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"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. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Of Lebanon - Lebanon had rocks, and also fruitful valleys; snow fell upon these rocks, and upon a thaw ran down into the lower places. Reason teaches men not to forsake a greater good for a less, tho' that greater good was but a poor creature comfort, not to be compared with God.
The margin reads it, " Will a man that is travelling the road leave my fields, which are plain and level, for a rock, which is rough and hard, or for the snow of Lebanon, which, lying in great drifts, makes the road impassable?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field?....
The prophet's complaint to God of the base ingratitude and unreasonable malice of his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and his prayers against them,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Lebanon means the "white mountain"; so called from the perpetual snow which covers that part called Hermon, stretching northeast of Palestine. that come from another place--that come from far, namely, from the distant lofty rocks of Lebanon.
Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon - Lebanon was the highest mountain in Judea. Would any man in his senses abandon a farm that was always watered by the melted snows of Lebanon, and take a barren rock in its place? How stupid therefore and absurd are my people, who abandon the everlasting God for the worship of idols!
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rather, “Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field?” The meaning probably is, “Will the snow of Lebanon fail from its rocks which tower above the land of Israel?” The appeal of the prophet is to the unchangeableness of one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena, the perpetual snow upon the upper summits of Lebanon. Shall the cold ... - literally, “shall the strange, i. e., foreign, “cool, down-flowing waters be plucked up?” The general sense is: God is Israel’s Rock, from whom the never-failing waters flow Jer 2:13: but men may and do abandon the cool waters which descend front above to seek their happiness in channels of their own digging.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
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?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲיַעֲזֹ֥ב | hayaazo | ¿ does it leave | H5800 → | 215 times |
| מִצּ֛וּר | mitzur | from [the] rock of | H6697 → | |
| שָׂדַ֖י | sadai | [the] field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| שֶׁ֣לֶג | sheleg | [the] snow of | H7950 → | |
| לְבָנ֑וֹן | levanon | Lebanon | H3844 → | 71 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יִנָּתְשׁ֗וּ | yinateshu | are they plucked up | H5428 → | 21 times |
| מַ֛יִם | mayim | waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| זָרִ֥ים | zarim | strange | H2114 → | 77 times |
| קָרִ֖ים | karim | cool | H7119 → | |
| נוֹזְלִֽים׃ | nozlim | flowing | H5140 → |
הֲיַעֲזֹ֥ב¿ does it leave
hayaazoH5800 →215 times
מִצּ֛וּרfrom [the] rock of
mitzurH6697 →
שָׂדַ֖י[the] field
sadaiH7704 →334 times
שֶׁ֣לֶג[the] snow of
shelegH7950 →
לְבָנ֑וֹןLebanon
levanonH3844 →71 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יִנָּתְשׁ֗וּare they plucked up
yinateshuH5428 →21 times
מַ֛יִםwaters
mayimH4325 →581 times
זָרִ֥יםstrange
zarimH2114 →77 times
קָרִ֖יםcool
karimH7119 →
נוֹזְלִֽים׃flowing
nozlimH5140 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
John 6:68Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.
it leads to
- Psalms 73:25
Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You.
- John 5:24
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
- 1 John 5:11–13
And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
- Acts 4:12
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
- John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
- Psalms 73:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.