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Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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New Century Version

Jeremiah 9:15

So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   War;   Wormwood;   Scofield Reference Index - Law of Moses;   Thompson Chain Reference - Wormwood;   The Topic Concordance - Disobedience;   Forsaking;   Heart;   Israel/jews;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Disobedience to God;   Law of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Persecution;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bitter;   Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hemlock;   Wormwood,;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Wormwood;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gall;   Wormwood;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Belly;   Bitter;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.
Hebrew Names Version
therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
King James Version
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
English Standard Version
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.
New American Standard Bible
therefore this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them poisoned water to drink.
Amplified Bible
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink.
World English Bible
therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore thus sayth the Lorde of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feede this people with wormewood, and giue them waters of gall to drinke:
Legacy Standard Bible
therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
Berean Standard Bible
Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
Contemporary English Version
So I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, promise them poison to eat and drink.
Complete Jewish Bible
I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known. I will send the sword after them until I have wiped them out."
Darby Translation
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink,
Easy-to-Read Version
So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them bitter water to drink.
Good News Translation
So then, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink.
Lexham English Bible
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,
Literal Translation
so Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I will feed them, this people with wormwood, and make them drink poison waters.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore, thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I will fede this people with wormwod, and geue the gall to drynke.
American Standard Version
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Bible in Basic English
So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
King James Version (1611)
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, euen this people with wormewood, and giue them water of gall to drinke.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therefore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I wyll feede this people with wormewood, and geue them gall to drinke.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall:
English Revised Version
therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
therfor the Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal fede this puple with wermod, and Y schal yyue to hem drynke the watir of galle.
Update Bible Version
therefore this is what Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
New English Translation
So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, say. ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.
New King James Version
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
New Living Translation
So now, this is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.
New Life Bible
So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "See, I will feed these people with wormwood and put poison in their drinking water.
New Revised Standard
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, The God of Israel, Behold me! Feeding them, even this people, with wormwood, - And I will cause them to drink, poisoned water;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Revised Standard Version
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink.
Young's Literal Translation
Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing them -- this people -- to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

Contextual Overview

12 What person is wise enough to understand these things? Is there someone who has been taught by the Lord who can explain them? Why was the land ruined? Why has it been made like an empty desert where no one goes? 13 The Lord answered, "It is because Judah quit following my teachings that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them to do. 14 Instead, they were stubborn and followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them to do. 15 So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. 16 I will scatter them through other nations that they and their ancestors never knew about. I will chase the people of Judah with the sword until they are all killed." 17 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Now, think about these things! Call for the women who cry at funerals to come. Send for those women who are good at that job. 18 Let them come quickly and cry loudly for us. Then our eyes will fill with tears, and streams of water will flow from our eyelids. 19 The sound of loud crying is heard from Jerusalem: ‘We are truly ruined! We are truly ashamed! We must leave our land, because our houses are in ruins.'" 20 Now, women of Judah, listen to the word of the Lord ; open your ears to hear the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to cry loudly. Teach one another a funeral song. 21 Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our strong cities. Death has taken away our children who play in the streets and the young men who meet in the city squares.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: Jeremiah 8:14, Jeremiah 23:15, Jeremiah 25:15, Psalms 60:3, Psalms 69:21, Psalms 75:8, Psalms 80:5, Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 2:22, Lamentations 3:15, Lamentations 3:19, Revelation 8:11

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 29:18 - among you a root Lamentations 3:5 - gall Ezekiel 34:16 - I will feed Acts 8:23 - the gall

Cross-References

Genesis 9:8
Then God said to Noah and his sons,
Genesis 9:10
and with every living thing that is with you—the birds, the tame and the wild animals, and with everything that came out of the boat with you—with every living thing on earth.
Exodus 28:12
Then put the two stones on the two straps of the holy vest as reminders of the twelve sons of Israel. Aaron is to wear their names on his shoulders in the presence of the Lord as reminders of the sons of Israel.
Deuteronomy 7:9
So know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He will keep his agreement of love for a thousand lifetimes for people who love him and obey his commands.
1 Kings 8:23
and said: " Lord , God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your agreement of love with your servants who truly follow you.
Nehemiah 9:32
"And so, our God, you are the great and mighty and wonderful God. You keep your agreement of love. Do not let all our trouble seem unimportant to you. This trouble has come to us, to our kings and our leaders, to our priests and prophets, to our ancestors and all your people from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
Psalms 106:45
He remembered his agreement with them, and he felt sorry for them because of his great love.
Jeremiah 14:21
For your sake, do not hate us. Do not take away the honor from your glorious throne. Remember your agreement with us, and do not break it.
Ezekiel 16:60
But I will remember my agreement I made with you when you were young, and I will make an agreement that will continue forever with you.
Luke 1:72
He said he would give mercy to our ancestors and that he would remember his holy promise.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... He calls himself "the Lord God of hosts", of armies above and below, in heaven and in earth, in opposition to Baalim, the idols of the Gentiles; which word signifies "lords"; which, though there be many who are called so, there is but one God, and one Lord, who is God over all, and "the God of Israel"; who had chosen them, and distinguished them by the blessings of his goodness; and yet they had forsaken him, and followed after other gods; by which the eyes of his glory were provoked, and he was determined to chastise them for it:

behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood; that is, with straits or difficulties, as the Septuagint version; with bitter afflictions; such are not joyous, but grievous; which are irksome and disagreeable, as bitter things, and particularly wormwood, are to the taste. The Targum is,

"I will bring tribulation upon them, bitter as wormwood:''

and give them water of gall to drink; meaning either of the entrails of a beast so called, or of the juice of the herb hemlock, as the word is rendered in Hosea 10:4, as Kimchi; or of the poison of a serpent, as Jarchi; and so the Targum,

"and I will give them the cup of cursing to drink as the heads of serpents:''

signifying that their punishment would be very severe, though just.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.

Jeremiah 9:10

The habitations i. e - the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jeremiah 6:3).

So that none can ... - Or, “They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they “are fled, they are gone.”

Jeremiah 9:11

Dragons - Rather, jackals.

Jeremiah 9:12

For what the land perisheth ... - This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question; that question being, Wherefore did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: “It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.”

Jeremiah 9:13

The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem, was their desertion of the divine Law.

Jeremiah 9:14

Imagination - Or, as in the margin.

Which their fathers taught them - It was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them chastisement: it was a sin, which had been handed down from father to son.

Jeremiah 9:15

I will feed them ... - Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has beam, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.

Wormwood - See Deuteronomy 29:18, note, and for “water of gall,” Jeremiah 8:14, note.

Jeremiah 9:16

This verse is taken from Leviticus 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahweh’s covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.

Till I have consumed them - See Jeremiah 4:27 note. How is this “consuming” consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jeremiah 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.

Jeremiah 9:17

The mourning women - Hired to attend at funerals, and by their skilled wailings aid the real mourners in giving vent to their grief. Hence, they are called “cunning,” literally “wise” women, wisdom being constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.

Jeremiah 9:18

Take up a wailing for us - i. e., for the nation once God’s chosen people, but long spiritually dead.

Jeremiah 9:19

Forsaken - Or, left: forced to abandon the land.

Because our dwellings ... - Rather, “because they have east down our dwellings.” The whole verse is a description of their sufferings. See 2 Kings 25:1-12.

Jeremiah 9:20

The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation. See 1 Samuel 18:6; 2 Samuel 1:24. The women utter now the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors the “lamentation, i. e., dirge,” because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.

Jeremiah 9:21

Death is come up ... - i. e., death steals silently like a thief upon his victims, and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go “without,” nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.

Jeremiah 9:22

The “handful” means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle, and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles, and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 9:15. I will feed them - with wormwood — They shall have the deepest sorrow and heaviest affliction. They shall have poison instead of meat and drink.


 
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