I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They didn’t return from their ways.
Parallel Translations
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I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They didn’t return from their ways.
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And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
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And I fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I bereave them of children, I destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 15:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 51:2 I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Isaiah 9:13 Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.
- Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 5:3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Psalms 1:4 The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- Jeremiah 8:4-5 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “ ‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return.
- Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
- Deuteronomy 28:41 You will father sons and daughters, but they will not be yours, for they will go into captivity.
- Jeremiah 4:11-12 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”
- Ezekiel 24:25 “You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,
- Hosea 9:12-17 Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them! I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer. Give them—Yahweh what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. “All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels. Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.” My God will cast them away, because they didn’t listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.
- Amos 4:10-12 “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh. “Therefore thus I will do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
- Zechariah 1:4 Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.
- Deuteronomy 28:18 The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock will be cursed.
- Deuteronomy 28:32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will be no power in your hand.
- Deuteronomy 28:53-56 You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you. The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye will be evil toward his brother, toward the wife whom he loves, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you in all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,
- Jeremiah 9:21 For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
- Ezekiel 24:21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He confirms here the same truth. The verb which…
He confirms here the same truth. The verb which I have rendered in the future may be rendered in the past tense, but I still think it to be a prediction of what was to come. But as to what follows, I have bereaved, I have destroyed, it must, I have no doubt, be referred to time past.
He then says, I will fan or scatter them, for the verb. זרה zare, means to scatter, but as with a fan follows, (the word is derived from the same root) I wish to retain the repetition. Then it is, I will fan them with a fan through all the gates of the earth Many give the meaning, “through the cities,” which I do not approve, as it seems a frigid explanation. On the contrary the Prophet means by “the gates of the earth,” all countries, for the Jews thought that they should be always safe and quiet in their own cities. By taking a part for the whole, gates do indeed, as it appears elsewhere, signify cities; but as the Jews trusted in their own defences, and thought that they could never be drawn out from these quiet nests, the word gates is in a striking manner transferred to signify any kind of exit; I will fan you, says God, but where? through all gates of the earth, or through all countries and through all deserts; wherever there is a region open for you there you must pass through. Ye are wont to pass in and out through your gates, and ye have there your quiet homes, but there shall be hereafter to you other cities, other gates, even all countries and all deserts, all ways, and, in short, every sort of passage.
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Then follows, I have bereaved, I have destroyed my people; they have not returned from their own ways Here no doubt he condemns the Jews for their sottishhess, because they had not repented after having been warned by grievous judgments, which God had executed partly on them and partly on their brethren. For the kingdom of Israel had been cut off: when they saw the ten tribes driven into exile ought they not to have been terrified by such an example? Hence also another Prophet says,
“There is no one who mourns for the bruising of Joseph.” (Amos 6:6)
God had set before their eyes a sad and dreadful spectacle; they ought then to have acknowledged in the destruction of Israel what they themselves deserved, and to have turned to God. It is then this extreme hardness that God upbraids them with, for though he had bereaved his people, the ten tribes, and destroyed them, and though also the kingdom of Judah had been in a great measure depressed, yet they returned not from their own ways. It hence appeared more fully evident that they deserved the severest judgments, as they were become wholly irreclaimable. He then adds —
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, the cities.
Meaning, the cities.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 15:7 And I will fan them with a…
Jer 15:7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave [them] of children, I will destroy my people, [since] they return not from their ways.
Ver. 7. And I will fan them with a fan.] Not of purgation {a} {as Jer 6:29-30} but of perdition. Such as that, Jer 51:2.
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In the gates of the land.] As men use to winnow grain at a windy door, where the chaff is blown quite away.
{a} Deo gratias quod lingua Petiliani non sit ventilabrum Christi. - Jerome.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I will fan them with a fan in the…
I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; not a purging fan by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a scattering fan. Some translate it into the gates of the earth; so it is the same that God had before said, that he would remove them into all nations (gates being put for cities): but it is more probable that this is added in pursuit of the metaphor of fanning, men usually choosing barn-doors to fan at, that they may have the advantage of the wind.
I will bereave them of children; of children is not in the Hebrew, and is needlessly supplied; it may as well be, of any or all their comforts or good things.
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I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways; their privilege claimed of being my people shall not protect them, so long as they go on in their lewd and sinful courses.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I will fan them with a fan in the…
I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land,.... Either of their own land, the land of Judea; and so the Septuagint version, "in the gates of my people"; alluding to the custom of winnowing corn in open places; and by fanning is meant the dispersion of the Jews, and their being carried captive out of their own land into other countries: or of the land of the enemy, into their cities, as the Targum paraphrases it; gates being put for them frequently; whither they should be scattered by the fan of the Lord; for what was done by the enemy, as an instrument, is ascribed to him:
I will bereave them of children; which shall die of famine, or pestilence, or by the sword, or in captivity: I will destroy my people; which must be when children are cut off, by which families, towns, cities, and kingdoms, are continued and kept up; and this he was resolved to do, though they were his people:
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since they return not from their ways; their evil ways, which they had gone into, forsaking the ways of God, and his worship: or,
yet they return not from their ways (d); though fanned with the fan of affliction, bereaved of their children, and threatened with destruction: it expresses their obstinate continuance in their evil ways, and the reason of God's dealing with them as above.
(d) "et tamen a viis suis non sunt reversi", V. L. Diodatus, Genevenses.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A fan - Not a purging fan by affliction,…
A fan - Not a purging fan by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a scattering fan. In the gates - This is added in pursuit of the metaphor of fanning, men usually chusing barn-doors to fan at, that they may have the advantage of the wind.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. I will fan them with a fan]…
Verse 7. I will fan them with a fan] There is no pure grain; all is chaff.
In the gates of the land] The places of public justice: and there it shall be seen that the judgments that have fallen upon them have been highly merited. And from these places of fanning they shall go out into their captivity.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I will fan them ... - Or, “I have…
I will fan them ... - Or, “I have winnowed them with a winnowing shovel.” The “gates of the land” mean the places by which men enter or leave it. As God winnows them they are driven out of the land through all its outlets in every direction.
I will bereave - Rather, “I have bereaved, I have destroyed my people.” Omit “of children.”
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Since they return not ... - Rather, “from their ways they have not returned.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Will, or "have scattered" the ten tribes, and many…
Will, or "have scattered" the ten tribes, and many of Juda, before the last siege. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain fan--tribulation--from tribulum, a threshing instrument, which separates the chaff…
fan--tribulation--from tribulum, a threshing instrument, which separates the chaff from the wheat (Mat 3:12).
gates of the land--that is, the extreme bounds of the land through which the entrance to and exit from it lie. MAURER translates, "I will fan," that is, cast them forth "to the gates of the land" (Nah 3:13). "In the gates"; English Version draws the image from a man cleaning corn with a fan; he stands at the gate of the threshing-floor in the open air, to remove the wheat from the chaff by means of the wind; so God threatens to remove Israel out of the bounds of the land [HOUBIGANT].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Will fan, etc. — The verb is a…
7. Will fan, etc. — The verb is a preterite used prophetically.
Gates of the land — Frequently used in the sense of cities, but here in the more ordinary sense of places of ingress and egress. The sense of the verse is: With my winnowing shovel I will drive the people out of the land.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. I have fanned them with a fan] “Fan,…
7. I have fanned them with a fan] “Fan, whether verb or noun, is now practically obsolete in the sense here intended.” Dr. p. 360. We should rather render, Have winnowed them with a winnowing-fork. The Arabic word midhra, corresponding to the Heb. mizreh here and in Isa_30:24, is “in use in modern Syria, and denotes a wooden fork almost six feet in length, with five or six prongs, bound together by fresh hide, which, on shrinking, forms a tight band.… The wooden shovel of Isa_30:24 was used with it. The mixture of corn, chaff, and broken straw, produced by threshing, was shaken about with these two implements, usually in some exposed spot, when a wind was blowing (generally in the afternoon or evening, Rth_3:2), and the wind carried away the chaff and the straw (Psa_1:4). If however the wind was too violent it would blow away the corn as well: hence the point of Jer_4:11.” Ibid.
the gates of the land] the borders (the parts by which men enter and leave the country). Cp. Nah_3:13.
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they have not returned from their ways] LXX have, on account of their evils (wicked deeds), probably meant as a free paraphrase, unless we suppose the word for evils to have fallen out of MT.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) I will fan them with a fan.—The image…
(7) I will fan them with a fan.—The image is, of course, the familiar one of the threshing-floor and the winnowing-fan or shovel (Psa_1:4; Psa_35:5; Mat_3:12). The tenses should be past in both clauses—I have winnowed . . . I have bereaved . . . I have destroyed.
In the gates of the land . . .—Possibly the “gates” stand for the fortified cities of Judah, the chief part being taken for the whole, more probably for the “approaches” of the land. So the Greeks spoke of the passes of the Taurus as the Cilician gates, and so we speak of the Khyber and Bolam passes as “the gates of India.”
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Since they return not.—The insertion of the conjunction, which has nothing corresponding to it in the original, weakens the vigour of the abruptness of the clause, and probably suggests a wrong sequence of thought. Jehovah had chastened them, but it was in vain. They returned not from their ways. Yet, as in the Vulgate, rather than “since,” is the implied conjunction.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The gates of the land. The phrase might mean…
The gates of the land. The phrase might mean either the cities in general (comp. Mic_5:5 Isa_3:26) or the fortresses commanding the entrance into the land. (comp. Nah_3:13) The context decides in favor of the latter view. Ewald"s explanation, "borders of the earth" (i.e. the most distant countries), seems less natural. I will bereave them, etc. The proper object of the verb is my people (personified as a mother). The population are to fall in war. (comp. the same figure in Eze_5:17) The tense is the perfect of prophetic certitude; literally, I have bereaved, etc.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.