Bible Strands
Jeremiah 19:7
And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through Jeremiah to Judah’s leaders and citizens during a prophetic act in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, pronouncing imminent destruction on the nation and its capital.
The words — בַקֹּתִי (va.ko.ti) literally means "I will make void" or "ruin," paired with עֲצַת ('a.Tzat), meaning "plan" or "counsel," describing the dismantling of Judah and Jerusalem’s political and military strategies.
The thread — The pattern of enemy defeat and unburied corpses runs through Leviticus 26:17, Deuteronomy 28:25, and Jeremiah 16:4, where the text explicitly links covenant failure to desolation and scavenger scavenging.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that human strategies collapse under divine judgment and that covenant consequences operate through concrete, historical violence rather than abstract warning.
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 I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Psalms 33:10 The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- Psalms 79:2 They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Jeremiah 7:33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
- Jeremiah 15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’
- Jeremiah 15:9 The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. And the rest I will put to the sword in the presence of their enemies,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 34:20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.