Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
Parallel Translations
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Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
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Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
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Set up a standard toward Zion; put yourselves under covert, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 4:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 1:13-15 Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.” Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh. “They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
- Jeremiah 51:27 “Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!
- Isaiah 62:10 Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples.
- Jeremiah 4:21 How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
- Jeremiah 6:1 “Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction.
- Jeremiah 6:22 Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jeremiah 51:12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 21:7 Afterward,” says Yahweh, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, have pity, or have mercy.” ’
- Jeremiah 50:22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
- Jeremiah 51:54 “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
- Zephaniah 1:10 In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The words אל-תעמדו, al-tomedu, may be explained in two…
The words אל-תעמדו, al-tomedu, may be explained in two ways, — “Stand not,” that is, “Hasten quickly,” as it is the case with those in extreme fear; or, “Ye shall not stand,” that is, “Though ye may seek a firm position on Mount Sion, ye shall not yet be able to continue there.” The first exposition appears to me the best, as it is more suitable to the context.
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 He speaketh this to admonish them of the great…
He speaketh this to admonish them of the great danger when every man shall prepare to save himself, but it shall be too late, 2 Kings 25:4.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 4:6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire,…
Jer 4:6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
Ver. 6. Set up the standard towards Zion.] All this seemeth to be ironically spoken. {as Jer 4:5}
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For I will bring evil from the north,] i.e., From Babylon. Ab aquilone nihil boni. There is also another Babylon spoken of in the Revelation, which to the true Church hath of long time been lerna malorum; and so the poor persecuted Protestants in Poland feel at this day. Roma radix omnium malorum.
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 Set up the standard, i.e. for them to resort…
Set up the standard, i.e. for them to resort to, as is usual in war; and it is therefore said to he towards Zion or Jerusalem, as being a signal to show them whither they should repair; see Jer 1:5; Jerusalem being their principal place of strength, and Zion the strongest part of it, 2Sa 5:6,7.
Retire; or, strengthen; fortify or strengthen yourselves for the fight. Or rather, make haste away, as men use to do in a great fight, viz. for your security: such a use there is of the word Isa 10:31; Jer 6:1, which sense is confirmed by the next words,
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stay not, or, as some, stay not yourselves in sin, where you promise yourselves security.
I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction, i.e. I am about to bring a great destruction upon you from Chaldea, Jer 1:13-15. Some take this and the former verse to be spoken ironically.
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 Set up the standard toward Zion,.... Not on the…
Set up the standard toward Zion,.... Not on the tower of Zion, as Kimchi interprets it; but on some high place, pointing to Zion, and directing the country people to flee thither for safety; for the setting up of the standard here is not for enlisting of soldiers in order to fight, but as a sign of danger, and a direction where to flee from it:
retire; gather yourselves together in order to flee, as the word (p) is rendered in Isa 10:31, though some render it, "be ye strengthened" (q); take heart, and play the man; but this does not seem so agreeable to the context:
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stay not; or, "stand not"; stand not in the place ye are in, but move from it in all haste, because of present danger:
for I will bring evil from the north; from Babylon, as Kimchi interprets it; which lay north to the land of Israel; and so designs the captivity Judah should be brought into there:
and a great destruction or, "breach" (r); which the Babylonians should make on the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem.
(p) "congregate vos, sub. ad fugiendum", Vatablus; "confirmate vos ad fugiendum", Piscator. (q) "Confortamini", V. L. "corroboramiui", Castalio; "agite viriliter", Munster. (r) "contritionem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "confractionem", Cocceius.
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 Retire - Make haste away.
Retire - Make haste away.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. I will bring evil from the north]…
Verse 6. I will bring evil from the north] From the land of Chaldea.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The standard - A flag or signal, to which…
The standard - A flag or signal, to which the people were to rally.Retire, stay not - Rather, gather your goods together: linger not; “for I” (emphatic, Yahweh) am bringing at this very time etc.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Zion--The standard toward Zion intimated that the people of…
Zion--The standard toward Zion intimated that the people of the surrounding country were to fly to it, as being the strongest of their fortresses.
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 6. Set up the standard — Making it point…
6. Set up the standard — Making it point toward Zion, to show the route to a place of safety.
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 6. Set up a standard] to guide those who…
6. Set up a standard] to guide those who were seeking to attain the shelter of the walls of Jerusalem.
flee] rather, make (your households) flee. Cp. mg. in Isa_10:31; and Exo_9:19 (“hasten in”).
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from the north] See introd. note to the section.
destruction] For the alarm caused by the Scythians, see Introd. i. § 3.
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 (6) Set up the standard toward Zion.—Still the language…
(6) Set up the standard toward Zion.—Still the language of alarm. The words are as a command, “Raise the signal which shall point to Zion as a place of refuge from the foe, by whom the rest of the country is laid waste.”
Retire.—Withdraw, in the transitive sense, “gather, with a view to removing” (as in Exo_9:19), and this is followed by “stay not,” linger not, be quick. The call to retreat was urgent.
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I will bring.—Literally, I am bringing.
From the north.—The Chaldæan, and possibly the Scythian, invasion, as in Jer_1:14.
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 Set up the standard. The "standard" was a tall…
Set up the standard. The "standard" was a tall pole with a flag, pointing in the direction of Zion, for the guidance of fugitives. Retire, stay not; rather, save your goods by flight; linger not. The former verb occurs again in the same sense in Exo_9:19 Isa_10:31. From the north. The expression suits either the Scythians or the Chaldeans. (see Jer_1:14)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.