Bible Strands
Jeremiah 10:18
For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be captured.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to the exiled community facing imminent siege and displacement. The prophet addresses those commanded to gather their belongings before impending judgment.
The words — The term קוֹלֵ֛עַ (ko.Le.a') denotes one who is about to hurl or sling objects. It modifies Yahweh’s declaration that He will actively cast out the inhabitants of the land.
The thread — This theme of divine expulsion appears in Deuteronomy 28:63, where God’s will to annihilate mirrors the slinging out of inhabitants. It also echoes the prophetic pattern in Zechariah 1:6, where God’s words overtake those who refuse to repent.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment operates through concrete historical displacement rather than abstract punishment. Readers must confront the reality that covenant rebellion results in forced exile and inescapable distress.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 25:29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
- Zechariah 1:6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
- Deuteronomy 28:63 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
- Jeremiah 15:1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go!
- Jeremiah 16:13 So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
- Jeremiah 23:20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this clearly.
- Ezekiel 6:10 And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.