Jeremiah 49:9

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If grape harvesters came to you,wouldn’t they leave some gleanings?Were thieves to come in the night,they would destroy only what they wanted.

Hebrew Names Version
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough?

King James Version
If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

English Standard Version
If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

New American Standard Bible
"If grape pickers came to you, Would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, They would destroy only what was sufficient for them.

New Century Version
If workers came and picked the grapes from your vines, they would leave a few grapes behind. If robbers came at night, they would steal only enough for themselves.

Amplified Bible
"If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some ungleaned grapes [on the vines]? If thieves came by night, Would they not destroy [only] what is enough [for them]?

World English Bible
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough?

Geneva Bible (1587)
If the grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leaue some grapes? if theeues come by night, they will destroy till they haue ynough.

Legacy Standard Bible
If grape gatherers came to you,Would they not have gleanings remain?If thieves came by night,They would ruin only until they had enough.

Berean Standard Bible
If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?

Contemporary English Version
People who harvest grapes leave some for the poor. Thieves who break in at night take only what they want.

Complete Jewish Bible
If grape-pickers came to you, they would leave no grapes for gleaning. If thieves came at night, they would destroy until they were satisfied.

Darby Translation
If grape-gatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a gleaning? If thieves by night, they would destroy only till they had enough.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Workers pick grapes from grapevines, but they leave a few grapes on the plants. If thieves come at night, they don't take everything.

George Lamsa Translation
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleaning grapes? If thieves came by night, they would destroy till they have enough.

Good News Translation
When people pick grapes, they leave a few on the vines, and when robbers come at night, they take only what they want.

Lexham English Bible
If grape-gatherers come to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves in the night, they destroy only enough for them.

Literal Translation
If the grape gatherers come to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves come by night, will they ruin more than enough for them?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yff the grape gatherers came vpon the, shulde they not leaue some grapes? Yff the night robbers came vpon the, shulde they not take so moch, as they thought were ynough?

American Standard Version
If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?

Bible in Basic English
If men came to get your grapes, would they not let some be uncut on the vines? if thieves came by night, would they not make waste till they had enough?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?

King James Version (1611)
If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leaue some gleaning grapes? If theeues by night, they will destroy till they haue enough.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If the grape gatherers come vpon thee, shoulde they not leaue some grapes? If the night robbers come vppon thee, shoulde they not take so much as they thought were inough?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and he said to them, Thus saith the Lord;

English Revised Version
If grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If gadereris of grapis hadden come on thee, thei schulden haue left a clustre; if theues in the niyt, thei schulden haue rauyschid that that suffiside to hem.

Update Bible Version
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, would they not destroy until they had enough?

Webster's Bible Translation
If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave [some] gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

New English Translation
If grape pickers came to pick your grapes, would they not leave a few grapes behind? If robbers came at night, would they not pillage only what they needed?

New King James Version
If grape-gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, Would they not destroy until they have enough?

New Living Translation
Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. If thieves came at night, they would not take everything.

New Life Bible
If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some grapes behind? If robbers came during the night, would they not take only what was enough for them?

New Revised Standard
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, even they would pillage only what they wanted.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, grape-gatherers, came to thee, Would they not leave, gleanings? If, thieves in the night, Would they not have taken away what sufficed them?

Douay-Rheims Bible
If grapegatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have taken what was enough for them.

Revised Standard Version
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

Young's Literal Translation
If gatherers have come in to thee, They do not leave gleanings, If thieves in the night, They have destroyed their sufficiency!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, They would destroy only until they had enough.

Contextual Overview

⁷The Message of God -of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom: "Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman? no one with a sense of reality? Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten? Run for your lives! Get out while you can! Find a good place to hide, you who live in Dedan! I'm bringing doom to Esau. It's time to settle accounts. When harvesters work your fields, don't they leave gleanings? When burglars break into your house, don't they take only what they want? But I'll strip Esau clean. I'll search out every nook and cranny. I'll destroy everything connected with him, children and relatives and neighbors. There'll be no one left who will be able to say, ‘I'll take care of your orphans. Your widows can depend on me.'" ¹²Indeed. God says, "I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God's wrath even though they don't deserve it, why would you think you'd get off? You won't get off. You'll drink it. Oh yes, you'll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am"— God 's Decree—"that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her." ¹⁴ I've just heard the latest from God . He's sent an envoy to the nations: "Muster your troops and attack Edom. Present arms! Go to war!" ¹⁵"Ah, Edom, I'm dropping you to last place among nations, the bottom of the heap, kicked around. You think you're so great— strutting across the stage of history, Living high in the impregnable rocks, acting like king of the mountain. You think you're above it all, don't you, like an eagle in its aerie? Well, you're headed for a fall. I'll bring you crashing to the ground." God 's Decree. ¹⁷"Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She'll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history." God says so. "No one will live there, no mortal soul move in there. ¹⁹ "Watch this: Like a lion coming up from the thick jungle of the Jordan Looking for prey in the mountain pastures, I will come upon Edom and pounce. I'll take my pick of the flock—and who's to stop me? The shepherds of Edom are helpless before me." ²⁰So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Edom, the blueprint of what he's prepared for those who live in Teman: "Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable— mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off. Believe it or not, the flock in shock, helpless to help, will watch it happen. The very earth will shudder because of their cries, cries of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea. Look! An eagle soars, swoops down, spreads its wings over Bozrah. Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight, like a woman giving birth to a baby."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

grapegatherers: Isaiah 17:6, Obadiah 1:5, Obadiah 1:6

till they have enough: Heb. their sufficiency

Reciprocal: Leviticus 19:10 - glean Judges 6:4 - left no Jeremiah 6:9 - They shall Nahum 2:2 - for

Cross-References

Numbers 24:9
By now Balaam realized that God wanted to bless Israel. So he didn't work in any sorcery as he had done earlier. He turned and looked out over the wilderness. As Balaam looked, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe. The Spirit of God came on him, and he spoke his oracle-message: Decree of Balaam son of Beor, yes, decree of a man with 20/20 vision; Decree of a man who hears God speak, who sees what The Strong God shows him, Who falls on his face in worship, who sees what's really going on. What beautiful tents, Jacob, oh, your homes, Israel! Like valleys stretching out in the distance, like gardens planted by rivers, Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener God , like red cedars by pools and springs, Their buckets will brim with water, their seed will spread life everywhere. Their king will tower over Agag and his ilk, their kingdom surpassingly majestic. God brought them out of Egypt, rampaging like a wild ox, Gulping enemies like morsels of meat, crushing their bones, snapping their arrows. Israel crouches like a lion and naps, king-of-the-beasts—who dares disturb him? Whoever blesses you is blessed, whoever curses you is cursed.

Ezekiel 19:5
When the lioness saw she was luckless, that her hope for that cub was gone, She took her other cub and made him a strong young lion. He prowled with the lions, a robust young lion. He learned to hunt. He ate men. He rampaged through their defenses, left their cities in ruins. The country and everyone in it was terrorized by the roars of the lion. The nations got together to hunt him. Everyone joined the hunt. They set out their traps and caught him. They put a wooden collar on him and took him to the king of Babylon. No more would that voice be heard disturbing the peace in the mountains of Israel!

Hosea 5:14
"I'm a grizzly charging Ephraim, a grizzly with cubs charging Judah. I'll rip them to pieces—yes, I will! No one can stop me now. I'll drag them off. No one can help them. Then I'll go back to where I came from until they come to their senses. When they finally hit rock bottom, maybe they'll come looking for me."

Micah 5:8
Yes, the purged and select company of Jacob will be like an island in the sea of peoples, Like the king of beasts among wild beasts, like a young lion loose in a flock of sheep, Killing and devouring the lambs and no one able to stop him. With your arms raised in triumph over your foes, your enemies will be no more!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave [some] gleaning grapes?.... If gatherers of grapes, at the time of the vintage, should come into thy fields to gather the grapes, being ripe, would not they leave some for the poor to glean? certainly they would, and not take every cluster. The Targum renders it,

"if thy spoilers, as grape gatherers, should come to thee,'' c.

if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough who break into houses by night, these will eat and drink as much as is sufficient, and carry off what serves their turn; but they seldom take away everything they find in a house; they leave some things behind them; but it is suggested that the Chaldeans should take away all from the Edomites, and leave them nothing; see Obadiah 1:5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Edom stretched along the south of Judah from the border of Moab on the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and the Arabian deserts, and held the same relation to Judah which Moab held toward the kingdom of Israel. Although expressly reserved from attack by Moses Deuteronomy 2:5, a long feud caused the Edomites to cherish so bitter an enmity against Judah, that they exulted with cruel joy over the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans, and showed great cruelty toward those why fled to them for refuge.

Of the prophecies against Edom the first eight verses of Obadiah are also found in Jeremiah (see the marginal references). As Jeremiah wrote before the capture of Jerusalem, and Obadiah apparently after it (see Jeremiah 49:13-14), it might seem certain that Obadiah copied from Jeremiah. Others held the reverse view; while some consider that the two prophets may both have made common use of some ancient prediction. See the introduction to Obadiah.

The prophecy is divisible into three strophes. In the first Jeremiah 49:7-13, the prophet describes Edom as terror-stricken.

Jeremiah 49:7

Teman - A strip of land on the northeast of Edom, put here for Edom generally. Its inhabitants were among those “children of the East” famed for wisdom, because of their skill in proverbs and dark sayings.

Jeremiah 49:8

Dwell deep - Jeremiah 49:30. The Dedanites, who were used to travel through the Edomite territory with their caravans, are advised to retire as far as possible into the Arabian deserts to be out of the way of the invaders.

Jeremiah 49:9

Translate it: “If vintagers come to thee, they will not leave any gleaning: if thieves by night, they will destroy their fill.”

Jeremiah 49:10

But - For. The reason why the invaders destroy Edom so completely. His secret places are the hiding-places in the mountains of Seir.

His seed - Esau’s seed, the Edomites; his brethren are the nations joined with him in the possession of the land, Amalek, and perhaps the Simeonites; his neighbors are Dedan, Tema, Buz.

Jeremiah 49:11

As with Moab Jeremiah 48:47, and Ammon Jeremiah 49:6, so there is mercy for Edom. The widows shall be protected, and in the orphans of Edom the nation shall once again revive.

Jeremiah 49:12

Translate it: “Behold they whose rule was not to drink of the cup shall surely drink etc.” It was not the ordinary manner of God’s people to suffer from His wrath: but now when they are drinking of the wine-cup of fury Jeremiah 25:15, how can those not in covenant with Him hope to escape?

Jeremiah 49:14-18

The second strophe, Edom’s chastisement.

Jeremiah 49:14

Rumour - Or, “revelation.”

Ambassador - Or, messenger, i. e., herald. The business of an ambassador is to negotiate, of a herald to carry a message.

Jeremiah 49:15

Small ... - Rather, small among the nations, i. e., of no political importance.

Jeremiah 49:16

Edom’s “terribleness” consisted in her cities being hewn in the sides of inaccessible rocks, from where she could suddenly descend for predatory warfare, and retire to her fastnesses without fear of reprisals.

The clefts of the rock - Or, the fastnesses of Sela, the rock-city, Petra (see Isaiah 16:1).

The hill - i. e., Bozrah.

Jeremiah 49:17

Better, “And Edom shall become a terror: every passer by shalt be terrified, and shudder etc.”

Jeremiah 49:18

Neighbour ... - Admah and Zeboim.

A son of man - i. e., “Any man.” From 536 a.d. onward, Petra suddenly vanishes from the pages of history. Only in the present century was its real site discovered.

Jeremiah 49:19-22

Concluding strophe. The fall of Edom is compared to the state of a flock worried by an enemy strong as a lion Jeremiah 4:7, and swift as an eagle.

Jeremiah 49:19

The swelling of Jordan - Or, the pride of Jordan, the thickets on his banks (marginal reference note).

Against the habitation of the strong - Or, to the abiding pasturage. The lion stalks forth from the jungle to attack the fold, sure to find sheep there because of the perennial (evergreen) pasturage: “but I will suddenly make him (the flock, Edom) run away from her (or it, the pasturage).”

And who is a chosen ... - Better, and I will appoint over it, the abandoned land of Edom, him who is chosen, i. e., my chosen ruler Nebuchadnezzar.

Who will appoint me the time? - The plaintiff, in giving notice of a suit, had to mention the time when the defendant must appear (see the margin). Yahweh identifies himself with Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 25:9, and shows the hopelessness of Edom’s cause. For who is like Yahweh, His equal in power and might? Who will dare litigate with Him, and question His right? etc.

Jeremiah 49:20

Surely the least ... - Rather, Surely they will worry them, the feeble ones of the flock: surely their pasture shall be terror-stricken over them. No shepherd can resist Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 49:19, but all flee, and leave the sheep unprotected. Thereupon, the Chaldaeans enter, and treat the poor feeble flock so barbarously, that the very fold is horrified at their cruelty.

Jeremiah 49:21

Is moved - Quakes.

At the cry ... - The arrangement is much more poetical in the Hebrew, The shriek - to the sea of Suph (Exodus 10:19 note) is heard its sound.

Jeremiah 49:22

Nebuchadnezzar shall swoop down like an eagle, the emblem of swiftness.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 49:9. If grape-gatherers — Both in vintage and harvest every grape and every stalk are not gathered; hence the gleaners get something for their pains: but your enemies shall not leave one of you behind; all shall be carried into captivity.