Jeremiah 8:17
15 We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
16 The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who dwell in it.
“For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
18 My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”
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
- “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
- KJV
- For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
- WEB
- “For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you,” says the LORD.
- ASV
- For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
- DARBY
- For behold, I send among you serpents, vipers against which there is no charm, and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
- BLB
- “For behold, I am sending you⁺ among serpents—vipers that [there is] not unto them a charm, and they will bite you⁺,” a declaration of YHWH.
- ÅB
- For se, jeg sender ormer iblant dere, basilisker som ingen besvergelse hjelper mot, og de skal bite dere, sier Herren.
- OTB
- "For se, jeg sender slanger blant dere, giftige slanger som ikke kan sjarmers, og de skal bite dere," erklærer Herren.
- B1930
- For se, jeg sender ormer iblandt eder, basilisker som ingen besvergelse hjelper mot, og de skal bite eder, sier Herren.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Psalms 58:4–5
Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,
Read in contextEcclesiastes 10:11
If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 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.
Read in contextNumbers 21:6
So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.
Read in contextRevelation 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.
Read in contextAmos 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.
Read in contextAmos 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.
Read in context