Bible Strands
Jeremiah 49:19
Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — YHWH addresses the nations through Jeremiah, declaring imminent judgment against Edom following a comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah’s total desolation. The oracle marks the transition from prophetic warning to enacted divine strategy against Teman.
The words — כְּאַרְיֵה (ke./'ar.Yeh) = like a lion, paired with אֵיתָן ('ei.Tan) = ever-flowing stream, frame the invading force as an unstoppable natural predator advancing to a watered pasture.
The thread — The rhetorical challenge “who is like Me?” echoes Exodus 15:11’s declaration of divine uniqueness, while the desolation motif links directly to Jeremiah 49:18 and the subsequent strategies against Teman in Jeremiah 49:20.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of YHWH’s sole authority to appoint and execute judgment, leaving no room for rival sovereignty or human resistance.
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
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
- Jeremiah 30:21 Their leader will be one of their own, and their ruler will arise from their midst. And I will bring him near, and he will approach Me, for who would dare on his own to approach Me?” declares the LORD.
- Exodus 15:11 Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
- Joshua 3:15 Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
- Job 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
- Job 41:10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
- Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- 1 Chronicles 12:15 These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks, and they put to flight all those in the valleys, both to the east and to the west.
- Job 9:21 Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
- Job 23:3 If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.