I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Parallel Translations
-
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
-
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
-
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will look upon their back, and not their face, in the day of their calamity.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 18:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 13:24 “Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.
- Jeremiah 2:27 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’
- Job 27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
- Psalms 48:7 With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
- Hosea 13:15 Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
- Jeremiah 32:33 They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. Although I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
- Jeremiah 46:21 Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
- Deuteronomy 28:25 Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
- Deuteronomy 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Judges 10:13-14 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!”
- Proverbs 7:25-26 Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Though no word of comparison is expressed, if we…
Though no word of comparison is expressed, if we read ב, beth, and not כ, caph, yet the Prophet employs a comparison, for God did not drive away the Jews by an eastern wind, but as the force of that wind is violent in Judea, the eastern wind often means a storm or a whirlwind, as though he had said, “As by a whirlwind or a storm will I cast them out.” I will disperse or dissipate them, he says, before the face of the enemy. He means that enemies would come to exterminate the Jews from the land; and he adds another thing, that these enemies would be full of terror, for God would give them the force of a whirlwind or a storm to disperse and scatter the Jews, for being terrified by God they would not dare to withstand.
Then follows a commination, that God would turn to them the neck, or the back, and not the face in the day of calamity. It sometimes happens that we are severely chastised by God, he thus often tries his faithful people when he subjects them to the will of the ungodly; but yet all remedy is not taken away from them, as they find consolation in God’s mercy, for as he casts down so he raises up, as he puts to death so he gives life, according to what is said in 1 Samuel 2:6. But God here denounces a punishment without any prospect of pardon or alleviation, I will scatter them, he says, as by an east wind before their enemies. Then he adds, “In vain shall they flee to me and seek my mercy, though otherwise it is offered to all, yet then they shall implore it in vain, for it is decreed not to pardon them. I will shew to them my back, (or neck, for ערף, oreph, is the hinder part of the head, but here it means the back,) they shall then find that I am turned away from them, so that they shall not be set before my eyes.” For it is an invaluable consolation when God is pleased to look on our miseries, but he deprives the Jews of this hope, for he would turn to them his back in the day of slaughter. I cannot proceed farther now.
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 I will show mine anger and not my favor…
I will show mine anger and not my favor toward them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 18:17 I will scatter them as with an…
Jer 18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Ver. 17. I will scatter them.] Whirry and whirl them up and down, as chaff before the force of the enemy.
Read full note →
I will skew them the back, and not the face.] This was woeful, but just upon them for their unworthy dealing in like sort with the Lord. {2Ch 29:6 Jer 2:27; Jer 32:33 Eze 8:16} Every transgression and disobedience hath a just recompense of reward. {Heb 2:2}
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 The east wind is (or was at least in…
The east wind is (or was at least in those parts) the fiercest wind. As the east wind scatters the chaff, so, saith God, I will scatter them. And when they shall be in great calamity and misery, I will not hearken to them, I will not turn my face to them, or show them my face; but I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard them crying, nor hear their prayers.
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 Give heed to me, O Lord,.... To his prayer,…
Give heed to me, O Lord,.... To his prayer, since his enemies would not give heed to his prophecies; and God does give heed to the cries and complaints of his ministers, when men will not give heed to their words and doctrines; they have a God to go to, who will hear them, when men despise them:
and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me; hear their reproaches and rantings, their blasphemies and evil speakings, their lies and falsehoods, and judge between me and them; let it appear who is in the right; vindicate my cause, and plead with them that plead against me.
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 East wind - The east wind was in those…
East wind - The east wind was in those parts the fiercest wind. As the east-wind scatters the chaff, so saith God, I will scatter them. In their calamity - And when they shall be in great calamity, I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard their prayers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. I will scatter them as with an…
Verse 17. I will scatter them as with an east wind] It is the property of this wind, almost every where, to parch up, blast, and destroy grain and trees, and even cattle and men suffer from it. Hence the old metrical proverb: -
"When the wind blows from the east,
Read full note →
'Tis good for neither man nor beast."
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 shew them the back - The hiding…
I will shew them the back - The hiding of God’s face is the sure sign of His displeasure Isa 1:15; Isa 59:2.
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 Burning. Hebrew kadim, "eastern," (Haydock) coming from Desert Arabia,…
Burning. Hebrew kadim, "eastern," (Haydock) coming from Desert Arabia, Exodus x. 13. (Calmet) --- Back. Thus the Lord now treats the synagogue. (St. Jerome)
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 as with an east wind--literally, "I will scatter them,…
as with an east wind--literally, "I will scatter them, as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind (Job 27:21; Psa 48:7; Isa 27:8). Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east wind."
I will show them the back . . . not . . . face--just retribution: as "they turned their back unto Me . . . not their face" (Jer 2:27).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. as with an east wind] better, perhaps, as…
17. as with an east wind] better, perhaps, as an east wind.
look upon … their face] mg. shew them the back, and not the face, in answer to the people’s own behaviour towards Him. See ch. Jer_2:27. They shall flee for shelter from the enemy as from the sirocco, the scorching wind in Palestine which springs suddenly from the desert in the E. or S.E. Cp. Gen_41:6 (“blasted”) and see on Amo_4:9 in C.B.
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 (17) With an east wind.—MSS. vary, some giving “with”…
(17) With an east wind.—MSS. vary, some giving “with” and some “as an east wind.” The difference does not much affect the meaning. The east wind blowing from the desert was the wind of storms, tempests, and parching heat (Jon_4:8; Psa_48:7; Isa_27:8). I will shew them the back, and not the face.—The figure is boldly anthropomorphic. The light of God’s countenance is the fulness of joy (Num_6:25). To turn away that light was to leave the people to the darkness of their misery. What was thus done by Jehovah was but a righteous retribution on the people who had “turned their back” and “not their face” to Him (Jer_2:27).
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 As with an east wind. The east was a…
As with an east wind. The east was a stormy wind. (Job_27:21) I wilt show them the back; as they have done to Jehovah. (Jer_2:27 Jer_32:33)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I win scatter them;. . . I will shew…
Jer_18:17
I win scatter them;. . . I will shew them the back.
Read full note →
The sinners doom
I. The cause of the evil threatened.
1. Rejecting the Divine government.
2. Guilty of idolatry.
3. Rejecting the mercy of God.
4. Conduct characterised by the greatest folly.
5. A manifestation of basest ingratitude.
II. The nature of the evil threatened.
1. God sometimes shows His back in a way of mercy (Exo_33:23; Job_25:2).
2. But this threat is expressive of Divine wrath.
3. The wrath of God is retributive.
4. A final departure.
III. The time when the evil shall be inflicted.
1. In the time of adversity.
2. In sickness.
3. When deserted by friends.
4. In old age.
5. In hour of death.
6. At last day. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
East winds
The east winds referred to by the prophets appear to be a violent form of sirocco. It was the east wind which brought the plague of locusts upon the Egyptians. It was by an east wind that the ships of Tarshish were broken (Psa_48:7), and the ships of Tyre (Eze_27:26). Jeremiah takes an east wind as the symbol of Jehovahs punishment of His people, while references to its withering and scorching properties are numerous; from the seven thin ears of wheat of Pharaohs vision in Egypt to the sultry blast which helped to afflict Jonah outside the walls of Nineveh. The east wind still breaks at times with terrific violence upon the coasts of Palestine, and the records of victims tell of tents that have been blown away by its fury. (H. B. Freeman, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.