The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB But those of those who escape will escape, and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity.
- KJV But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
- NKJV ‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity.
- NASB Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each over his own wrongdoing.
- NLT The survivors who escape to the mountains will moan like doves, weeping for their sins.
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
Survivors will flee to the mountains, moaning like doves over their iniquity. Escape brings not relief but grief and guilt.
Overview
Those who survive will huddle in the hills, mourning like valley doves, each lamenting his own sin. The image of trembling, grieving refugees shows that judgment awakens consciousness of guilt. Such mourning over iniquity, though painful, is the beginning of repentance that God in mercy uses to draw a remnant back to Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ezra 9:15O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”
- Isa 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Isa 59:11We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Isa 37:31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
- Zech 12:10–14Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
- Ezek 6:8–9Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.
- Ezek 36:31Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations.
- Isa 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Prov 5:11–14At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
- Jer 31:18–19I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Jer 50:4–5“In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the LORD their God.
- Jer 44:14so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone to reside in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live; for none will return except a few fugitives.”
- Jer 31:9They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
- Jer 44:28Those who escape the sword will return from Egypt to Judah, few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah who went to dwell in the land of Egypt will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs!
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The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 7:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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