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Read the Bible

New American Standard Bible (1995)

Jeremiah 29:17

thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Captivity;   Famine;   Wicked (People);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fig-Tree, the;   Plague or Pestilence, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Canon of the Old Testament;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Apocrypha;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Greek Versions of Ot;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Pestilence ;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Zedekiah;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fig;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This is what the Lord of Armies says: “I am about to send sword, famine, and plague against them, and I will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad.
Hebrew Names Version
thus says the LORD of Hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.
King James Version
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
English Standard Version
‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten.
New American Standard Bible
this is what the LORD of armies says: 'Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.
New Century Version
The Lord All-Powerful says: "I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat.
Amplified Bible
thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold (listen very carefully), I am sending the sword, famine, and virulent disease (pestilence) on them, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.
World English Bible
thus says Yahweh of Hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Euen thus sayth the Lorde of hostes, Beholde, I will sende vpon them the sworde, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figges, that cannot bee eaten, they are so naughtie.
Legacy Standard Bible
thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.
Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "I will send against them sword, famine, and plague, and I will make them like rotten figs, so bad that they cannot be eaten.
Complete Jewish Bible
thus says Adonai -Tzva'ot: ‘I will attack them with sword, famine and plague; I will make them like bad figs, so bad they are inedible.
Darby Translation
thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like the vile figs, that cannot be eaten for badness.
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord All-Powerful says, "I will soon bring war, hunger, and disease against those who are still in Jerusalem. And I will make them the same as bad figs that are too rotten to eat.
George Lamsa Translation
Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like bad figs which are so bad that they cannot be eaten.
Good News Translation
The Lord Almighty says, ‘I am bringing war, starvation, and disease on them, and I will make them like figs that are too rotten to be eaten.
Lexham English Bible
thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Look, I am going to send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality.
Literal Translation
so says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I am sending among them the sword, the famine, and the plague. And have given them up as figs that are vile, which cannot be eaten from badness.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus (I saye) speaketh the LORDE of hoostes: Beholde, I wil sende a swearde, honger & pestilence vpon them, & wil make them like vntymely fyges, that maye not be eate for bytternes.
American Standard Version
thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
Bible in Basic English
This is what the Lord of armies has said: See, I will send on them the sword and need of food and disease, and will make them like bad figs, which are of no use for food, they are so bad.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
King James Version (1611)
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Beholde, I will send vpon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figges, that cannot be eaten, they are so euill.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thus [I say] speaketh the Lorde of hoastes, Beholde I wyll sende a sworde, hunger, and pestilence vpon them, and wyll make them lyke vntymely figges that may not be eaten for bitternesse:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Idumea shall be a desert: every one that passes by shall hiss at it.
English Revised Version
thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord of oostis seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal sende among hem swerd, and hungur, and pestilence; and Y schal sette hem as yuele figis, that moun not be etun, for tho ben ful yuele.
Update Bible Version
this is what Yahweh of Hosts says; Look, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.
Webster's Bible Translation
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
New English Translation
The Lord who rules over all says, ‘I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten.
New King James Version
thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
New Living Translation
This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: "I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.
New Life Bible
The Lord of All says, ‘I am sending the sword, hunger, and disease upon them. I will make them like bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten.
New Revised Standard
Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am going to let loose on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Behold me! sending upon them sword famine, and pestilence, - So will I make them like the horrid figs, that cannot be eaten for badness;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.
Revised Standard Version
'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten.
Young's Literal Translation
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Lo, I am sending among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and I have given them up as figs that [are] vile, that are not eaten for badness.

Contextual Overview

15 "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon'— 16 for thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile— 17 thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.18 'I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have not listened to My words,' declares the LORD, 'which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,' declares the LORD. 20 "You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name, 'Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes. 22 'Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, 23 because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness," declares the LORD.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Behold: Jeremiah 29:18, Jeremiah 15:2, Jeremiah 15:3, Jeremiah 24:8-10, Jeremiah 34:17-22, Jeremiah 43:11, Jeremiah 52:6, Ezekiel 5:12-17, Ezekiel 14:12-21, Luke 21:11, Luke 21:23

them like: Jeremiah 24:1-3, Jeremiah 24:8

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:25 - I will send Jeremiah 9:16 - and I Jeremiah 14:12 - but Jeremiah 22:2 - that sittest Jeremiah 36:31 - will bring

Cross-References

Genesis 12:11
It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman;
Genesis 24:16
The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
Genesis 29:1
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east.
Genesis 29:2
He looked, and saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. Now the stone on the mouth of the well was large.
Genesis 29:6
And he said to them, "Is it well with him?" And they said, "It is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep."
Genesis 29:12
Jacob told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and that he was Rebekah's son, and she ran and told her father.
Genesis 29:18
Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
Genesis 29:19
Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than to give her to another man; stay with me."
Genesis 29:20
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.
Genesis 29:22
Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will send upon them the sword,.... The sword of the Chaldeans, by which many of them should fall, as they did. The Targum is,

"I will send upon them those that kill with the sword:''

who, though they were prompted to come against the Jews, through a natural and ambitious desire of conquering and plundering, yet were sent of God; nor would they have come, had he not willed and suffered it:

the famine and the pestilence; to destroy others that escaped the sword; both these raged while Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans:

and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil; to which they are compared, Jeremiah 24:8. The sense is, that as they had made themselves wicked and corrupt, like naughty and rotten figs, so the Lord would deal with them as men do with such, cast them away, as good for nothing. The word z for "vile" signifies something horrible; and designs such figs so bad, that they even strike the eater of them with horror.

z כתאנים השערים "tanquam ficus horrendas", Junius Tremellius, Piscator so Stockius, p. 1129.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses are not in the Septuagint. But the text of the Septuagint is here throughout so brief and confused as to be explicable only on the supposition, that it represents what was left behind in Egypt when Jeremiah died, copied probably with extreme haste, and with no opportunity of careful collation afterward. On the other hand the Hebrew text represents no hurried transcript, but the original manuscript, and is especially trustworthy in the case of these letters sent to Babylon (see also Jeremiah 51:0), because the originals of them would be available for collation with the text preserved by Jeremiah himself. The verses were probably intended to allay excitement in Babylon consequent upon the knowledge that the representatives of various kings were assembled at that very time at Jerusalem to form a coalition against Babylon Jeremiah 27:3.

Jeremiah 29:17

Vile - The word does not occur elsewhere, but comes from a root signifying to shudder, and thus has an intense meaning.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 29:17. Behold, I will send upon them the sword — Do not envy the state of Zedekiah who sits on the throne of David, nor that of the people who are now in the land whence ye have been carried captive, (Jeremiah 29:16,) for "I will send the sword, the pestilence, and the famine upon them;" and afterwards shall cause them to be carried into a miserable captivity in all nations, (Jeremiah 29:18;) but ye see the worst of your own case, and you have God's promise of enlargement when the proper time is come. The reader will not forget that the prophet is addressing the captives in Babylon.


 
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