Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God pronounces judgment on Jerusalem to the gathered officials, immediately following the declaration that He will ruin their plans and deliver them to the sword and scavengers.
The words — The Hebrew לְשַׁמָּה (le/sha.Mah) means "into a waste" or desolation, and לִשְׁרֵקָה (li/sh.re.Kah) translates literally to "into a hissing" or object of scorn.
The thread — This pattern of a city becoming a desolation and object of scorn for passersby appears in Jeremiah 18:16, 1 Kings 9:8, and Jeremiah 49:13.
Why it lands — The text commands every passerby to witness the city's ruined state and react with awe and mockery at its visible wounds.
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 this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
- Jeremiah 25:18 to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;
- 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.
- Zephaniah 2:15 This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
- Leviticus 26:32 And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.
- Jeremiah 9:9 Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
- Lamentations 2:15 All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”