Bible Strands
Jeremiah 49:5
Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, from all those around you. You will each be driven headlong, with no one to regather the fugitives.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD of Hosts addresses the faithless daughter of Ammon immediately after she boasts over her fertile valleys and trusts in her riches. The declaration is pronounced at the precise moment of her claimed invulnerability.
The words — The text foregrounds פַּחַד (Pa.chad) = terror and נְאֻם־ (ne.'um-) = utterance of, establishing the coming defeat as a direct divine pronouncement rather than a contingent event.
The thread — The motif of divinely induced rout appears in Jeremiah 46:5, where warriors flee in haste, and Jeremiah 49:29, where plunder follows the same judgment. The pattern of fear falling upon a nation before divine action is also recorded in Joshua 2:9.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to abandon reliance on material wealth and geographical advantage when facing sovereign judgment. It demands a factual acknowledgment that human security cannot withstand coordinated divine intervention.
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, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 46:5 Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 49:29 They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
- Joshua 2:9 and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.
- 2 Kings 7:6 For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
- Job 15:21 Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
- Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- Isaiah 16:3 “Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
- Jeremiah 15:8 I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.
- Jeremiah 20:4 For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword.