Jeremiah 48:6
4 Moab will be shattered; her little ones will cry out.
5 For on the ascent to Luhith they weep bitterly as they go, and on the descent to Horonaim cries of distress resound over the destruction:
‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’
7 Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will move against every city, and not one town will escape. The valley will also be ruined, and the high plain will be destroyed, as the LORD has said.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- ‘Flee! Run for your lives! Become like a juniper in the desert.’
- KJV
- Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
- WEB
- Flee! Save your lives! Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness.
- ASV
- Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
- DARBY
- Flee, save your lives, and be like a shrub in the wilderness.
- BLB
- ‘Flee, save your⁺ own soul! L become like a juniper in the desert.’
- ÅB
- Flykt, redd deres liv! Bli som hjelpeløse mennesker i ørkenen!
- OTB
- Flykt! Redd deres liv; bli som en busk i ødemarken.
- B1930
- Fly, redd eders liv! Bli som hjelpeløse mennesker i ørkenen!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 17:6
He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
Read in contextJob 30:3–7
Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
Read in contextJeremiah 51:6
Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
Read in contextLuke 17:31–33
On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind.
Read in contextPsalms 11:1
In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
Read in contextProverbs 6:4–5
Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.
Read in contextLuke 3:7
Then John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Read in contextMatthew 24:16–18
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Read in context