Jeremiah 18:17
in Jeremiah 18I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
KJV
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
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This verse in Jeremiah 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseI will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,.... As the east wind, which is generally strong and boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to withstand.
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
I will scatter them before the enemy
John Wesley calls the east wind the fiercest in that region, and it scatters Judah as it scatters chaff. Matthew Henry notes that calamity is easily borne while God looks toward His people. Turned away, He leaves them undone.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 17) Like a burning wind, I will scatter them before the enemy (or enemies); I will show them my back, not my face, on the day of their destruction. Until this day, God's judgment remains on the Jews. They were scattered before the enemy devil or enemy demons throughout the entire world; and as they invoke the name of God in the synagogues of Satan day and night, God shows them his back, not his face, so that they may understand that he is constantly withdrawing and never coming to them.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
East wind - The east wind was in those parts the fiercest wind. As the east-wind scatters the chaff, so saith God, I will scatter them. In their calamity - And when they shall be in great calamity, I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard their prayers.
Our calamities may be easily borne if God look towards us, and smile upon us, when we are under them, if he countenance us and show us favour; but if he turn the back upon us, if he show himself displeased, if he be deaf to our prayers and refuse us his help, if he forsake us, leave us to ourselves, and stand at a distance from us, we are quite undone.
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
I will scatter them as with an east wind - It is the property of this wind, almost every where, to parch up, blast, and destroy grain and trees, and even cattle and men suffer from it. Hence the old metrical proverb: - “When the wind blows from the east, ‘Tis good for neither man nor beast.”
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will shew them the back - The hiding of God’s face is the sure sign of His displeasure Isa 1:15; Isa 59:2.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּרֽוּחַ־ | keruach- | like a wind of | H7307 → | 378 times |
| קָדִ֥ים | kadim | [the] east | H6921 → | |
| אֲפִיצֵ֖ם | ʾafitzem | I will scatter them | H6327 → | 67 times |
| לִפְנֵ֣י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אוֹיֵ֑ב | ʾoyev | an enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
| עֹ֧רֶף | ʾoref | back | H6203 → | 33 times |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| פָנִ֛ים | fanim | face | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אֶרְאֵ֖ם | ʾerem | I will show them | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| בְּי֥וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֵידָֽם׃ ס | ʾeidam | disaster their | H343 → | 24 times |
כְּרֽוּחַ־like a wind of
keruach-H7307 →378 times
קָדִ֥ים[the] east
kadimH6921 →
אֲפִיצֵ֖םI will scatter them
ʾafitzemH6327 →67 times
לִפְנֵ֣י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
אוֹיֵ֑בan enemy
ʾoyevH341 →282 times
עֹ֧רֶףback
ʾorefH6203 →33 times
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
פָנִ֛יםface
fanimH6440 →2123 times
אֶרְאֵ֖םI will show them
ʾeremH7200 →1300 times
בְּי֥וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
אֵידָֽם׃ סdisaster their
ʾeidamH343 →24 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 2:27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble…
it leads to
- Isaiah 26:16
O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
- Isaiah 26:16
Through
Jeremiah 13:24“I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.
it leads to
- Psalms 1:4
Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Leviticus 26:33
But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- Psalms 1:4
Through
Hosea 13:15Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 19:12
But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
- Ezekiel 19:12
Through
Job 27:21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
it leads to
- Psalms 11:6
On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.
- Psalms 83:15
so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.
- Psalms 11:6
Through
Psalms 48:7With a wind from the east You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:48
Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
- Ezekiel 27:25–26
The ships of Tarshish carried your merchandise. And you were filled with heavy cargo in the heart of the sea.
- 1 Kings 22:48
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
About Jeremiah
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; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; 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.