Bible Strands
Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to Judah, pronouncing judgment after they abandon His ancient paths for idolatrous bypaths. The words — לָ/שׂ֥וּם (la./Sum) means "to make," and לְ/שַׁמָּ֖ה (le./sha.Mah) translates to "into a waste." The thread — The theme of land becoming a desolation and object of scorn appears in Jeremiah 19:8, while the image of passersby shaking their heads in mockery aligns with Psalms 22:7. Why it lands — The text states that persistent rejection of divine direction produces irreversible ruin; the passage demands acknowledgment that idolatry forfeits divine protection and invites public scorn.
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
To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
Cross-references
- Psalms 22:7 All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 19:8 I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
- 1 Kings 9:8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
- Jeremiah 49:13 For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
- Jeremiah 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD, she will not be inhabited; she will become completely desolate. All who pass through Babylon will be horrified and will hiss at all her wounds.
- Ezekiel 33:28 I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through.
- Micah 6:16 You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
- Matthew 27:39 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
- 2 Chronicles 7:20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.