If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
Parallel translations
- WEB “If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals;
- BSB Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
- NKJV “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts,
- NASB “If I were to cause vicious animals to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the animals,
- NLT “Or suppose I were to send wild animals to invade the country, kill the people, and make the land too desolate and dangerous to pass through.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God describes wild beasts as one of His judgments that empties a land. Sin invites desolation.
Overview
This is the first of four covenant curses (compare Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32) that God threatens. When the LORD removes His protective restraint, even the created order turns hostile and the land becomes impassable. It underscores that ecological and social ruin can be instruments of divine discipline against persistent rebellion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Lev 26:22I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
- Ezek 5:17So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
- Jer 15:3And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
- 2 Kgs 17:25And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
- 1 Kgs 20:36Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.
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Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.