Jeremiah 23:10
in Jeremiah 23For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right;
KJV
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
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This verse in Jeremiah 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 10) Because the earth is filled with adulterers (or adulteresses), because the face of the earth mourns because of a curse (or oath), the fields (or pastures) of the desert are dried up, and their course is evil, and their strength is dissimilar. This that we have put from Hebrew: because the earth is filled with adulterers, is not found in the Septuagint, who have spoken an oath, instead of a curse. And they give the reasons, that because of adulteries and curses, or excessive oath, or rather perjuries, there has been a result of the sterility of crops.
This site's exposition
As for the prophets: My heart
on Jeremiah 23:9-15
Jeremiah’s own body bears the message: “My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble,” like “a man overcome by wine.” The prophets of Samaria “prophesied by Baal,” but the prophets of Jerusalem “commit adultery and walk in lies” and are “all like Sodom to Me.”
This site's exposition
the land is full of adulterers
Clarke reads the adulterers as idolaters, faithless to the LORD as a wife can be to her husband. Under the curse, the land mourns and its pastures dry up. Jerome links that curse to false oaths and the failed crops that followed.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Swearing - By false-swearing, or by idle and profane swearing. The pleasant places - The wrath of God was extended to all places whether more or less inhabited. Their courses - The prophets did not only err in single acts, but the whole course of their actions was evil, and particularly their power, rule and government, was not right.
For the land is full of adulterers,.... Of such as were guilty of corporeal adultery, and of spiritual adultery, which is idolatry.
Both perjury and common swearing are sins for which a land must mourn in true repentance or it will be made to mourn under the judgments of God. Their land mourned now under the judgment of famine; the pleasant places, or rather the pastures, or (as some read it) the habitations of the wilderness, are dried up for want of rain, and yet we see no signs of repentance.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The land is full of adulterers - Of idolaters. Of persons who break their faith to ME, as an impure wife does to her husband. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up - He speaks here, most probably, in reference to dearth. Profane oaths, false swearing, evil courses, violence, etc., had provoked God to send this among other judgments; see Jer 23:19.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
adulterers--spiritual, that is, forsakers of God, Israel's true Husband (Isa 54:5) for idols, at the instigation of the false "prophets" (Jer 23:9, 15). Literal adultery and fornication, the usual concomitants of idolatry, are also meant. swearing--MAURER, &c., translate, "Because of the curse (of God on it), the land mourneth" (De 27:15-26;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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
Because of swearing - Rather, because of the curse denounced against sin Jer 11:3. The mourning probably refers to the drought Jer 12:4. The pleasant places - “Pastures.” Their course - Their mode of life. Their force is not right - “Their heroism,” that on which they pride themselves as mighty men, “is not right,” is wrong (see Jer 8:6 note).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
both prophet and priest Even these, from whom everyone learns.
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. 4 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
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מְנָֽאֲפִים֙ | menaafim | adulterers | H5003 → | 31 times |
| מָלְאָ֣ה | malah | it is full | H4390 → | 249 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מִפְּנֵ֤י | mipenei | <from> because of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אָלָה֙ | ʾalah | a curse | H423 → | 35 times |
| אָבְלָ֣ה | ʾavelah | it has dried up | H56 → | 39 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| יָבְשׁ֖וּ | yaveshu | they have become dry | H3001 → | 59 times |
| נְא֣וֹת | neot | [the] pastures of | H4999 → | 12 times |
| מִדְבָּ֑ר | midbar | [the] wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
| וַתְּהִ֤י | vatehi | and it has become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מְרֽוּצָתָם֙ | merutzatam | course [of life] their | H4794 → | |
| רָעָ֔ה | raah | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| וּגְבוּרָתָ֖ם | ugevuratam | and strength their | H1369 → | 61 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | [is] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| כֵֽן׃ | khen | right | H3651 → | 771 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מְנָֽאֲפִים֙adulterers
menaafimH5003 →31 times
מָלְאָ֣הit is full
malahH4390 →249 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
מִפְּנֵ֤י<from> because of
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
אָלָה֙a curse
ʾalahH423 →35 times
אָבְלָ֣הit has dried up
ʾavelahH56 →39 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
יָבְשׁ֖וּthey have become dry
yaveshuH3001 →59 times
נְא֣וֹת[the] pastures of
neotH4999 →12 times
מִדְבָּ֑ר[the] wilderness
midbarH4057 →270 times
וַתְּהִ֤יand it has become
vatehiH1961 →3559 times
מְרֽוּצָתָם֙course [of life] their
merutzatamH4794 →
רָעָ֔הevil
raahH7451 →662 times
וּגְבוּרָתָ֖םand strength their
ugevuratamH1369 →61 times
לֹא־[is] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
כֵֽן׃right
khenH3651 →771 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 9:10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 12:4
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said,…
- Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Ezekiel 14:15
Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
- Ezekiel 29:11
No foot of man or beast will pass through, and it will be uninhabited for forty years.
- Jeremiah 12:4
Through
Psalms 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
it leads to
- Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was…
- Genesis 14:3
The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
- Genesis 13:10
Through
Jeremiah 9:2If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:7–8
“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
- Hosea 4:2
Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
- Jeremiah 5:7–8
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.