Bible Strands
Jeremiah 16:18
And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Jeremiah, declaring impending judgment on Israel for their idolatry. This statement follows a notice that God observes all their actions and precedes a prophecy of nations abandoning their false gods.
The words — מִשְׁנֵה (mish.Neh) literally means "double" or "second portion," functioning with שִׁלַּמְתִּי (shi.lam.Ti), "I will repay."
The thread — The motif of land defilement recurs in Jeremiah 2:7 and Numbers 35:33, while the contrast between measured guilt and pardoned iniquity aligns with Isaiah 40:2.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that idolatry actively corrupts God's inheritance and that divine retribution will correspond directly to that corruption.
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
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
Cross-references
- Numbers 35:33 Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
- Isaiah 40:2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”
- Jeremiah 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.
- Jeremiah 17:18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but do not let me be terrified. Bring upon them the day of disaster and shatter them with double destruction.
- Ezekiel 11:21 But as for those whose hearts pursue detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Revelation 18:6 Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
- Isaiah 61:7 Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
- Jeremiah 3:9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
- Ezekiel 11:18 When they return to it, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations.
- Ezekiel 43:7 and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offerings for their kings at their deaths.