Bible Strands
Jeremiah 8:17
“For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Judah immediately after describing the advancing enemy cavalry from Dan that will devour the land.
The words — מְשַׁלֵּחַ (me.sha.Le.ach) conveys "I am about to send," while אֵין לָ֑חַשׁ ('ein-La.chash) literally means "there is no charm," denoting an unpreventable strike.
The thread — The image of uncharmed serpents as divine judgment appears in Deuteronomy 32:24, Psalms 58:4, and Ecclesiastes 10:11.
Why it lands — The text states that God will directly deploy inescapable venomous judgment, requiring the reader to recognize the event as a deliberate divine act rather than mere historical accident.
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
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Psalms 58:4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
- Ecclesiastes 10:11 If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
- Deuteronomy 32:24 They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
- Numbers 21:6 So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.
- Isaiah 14:29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken. For a viper will spring from the root of the snake, and a flying serpent from its egg.
- Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
- Amos 9:3 Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
- Revelation 9:19 For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.