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Jeremiah 12:17

But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

  • KJV King James Version

    But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    But if they will not hearken, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, saith the LORD.

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Cross-references (12)

Passages linked to Jeremiah 12:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Isaiah 60:12 For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
  • Psalms 2:8-12 Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
  • Jeremiah 12:14-17 Yahweh says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.
  • Jeremiah 18:7 At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
  • Jeremiah 31:28 It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.
  • Ezekiel 19:12 But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them.
  • Daniel 7:4-8 “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man. A man’s heart was given to it. “Behold, there was another animal, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. They said this to it: ‘Arise! Devour much flesh!’ “After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The animal also had four heads; and dominion was given to it. “After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there was a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the animals that were before it. It had ten horns. “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
  • Daniel 11:4 When he stands up, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these.
  • Zechariah 14:16-19 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of booths. It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths.
  • Luke 19:27 But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’ ”
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:8 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
  • 1 Peter 2:6-8 Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.” For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (8 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain As he had shewn that there was a sure…

As he had shewn that there was a sure hope of salvation to his own people, when the Gentiles would embrace his mercy, so he now threatens the Gentiles with destruction in case they repented not; for he had promised to be merciful to the Gentiles conditionally, and said, — “If they learn the ways of my people, if they submit to my authority:” but now he says, if they will not hear, etc We hence see that God here threatens extreme vengeance to the Gentiles if they subjected not themselves to his yoke, so as to render obedience to him. His object, no doubt, was to terrify the Jews as well as the nations; for as the Gentiles could not with impunity despise God, though unknown to them, how inexcusable would the Jews be, who had from their infancy imbibed the true knowledge of the law, if, after the manner of the Gentiles, they were perverse and intractable?

We in short see that God, on one side, sweetly allured the Jews to render a wining obedience to his law, and, on the other, he threatened them; for as he could by no means bear with the perverseness of the Gentiles, much less could the Jews hope to escape punishment. This is the import of the passage. Now follows another prophecy —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 12:17 But if they will not obey, I…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain But for those, whether they be Jews or Gentiles,…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But if they will not obey,.... Or "hear" (k);…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. I will - destroy that nation] Several…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Isa 60:12).
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) I will utterly pluck up.—In this, as in…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:17 If these nations refused to obey the Lord,…

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