Bible Strands
Jeremiah 13:20
Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah’s leaders and officials during a period of imminent national collapse and forced exile. The prophet confronts them with a military threat that will strip their authority and expose their failure.
The words — The text uses צָפוֹן (mi./tza.Fon) to identify the geographic origin of the invading army, and עֵדֶר (ha./'E.der) to label the displaced population as a flock. These terms frame the coming judgment as a forced displacement that reverses their former control.
The thread — The northern invasion motif runs through Jeremiah 1:14 and Jeremiah 6:22 as a consistent divine warning to Judah. The flock imagery connects to Jeremiah 23:2, where failed shepherds are condemned for scattering the people they were meant to protect.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to assess what becomes of their stewardship when divine judgment removes their security. It demands the acknowledgment that human authority and pride are temporary when confronted with sovereign action.
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
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jeremiah 1:14 Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.
- Jeremiah 23:2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.
- Habakkuk 1:6 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 10:22 Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north. It will make the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- Jeremiah 13:17 But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
- Acts 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- Isaiah 56:9 Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.
- Zechariah 11:16 For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.
- Ezekiel 34:7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: