Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
- BSB Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.
- NKJV Then the Lord said to me: “Out of the north calamity shall break forth On all the inhabitants of the land.
- NASB Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north the evil will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land.
- NLT “Yes,” the Lord said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.
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 interprets the vision: disaster will burst from the north on the land. Judgment is announced as imminent.
Overview
Yahweh explains that evil will break out from the north upon all the land's inhabitants. The looming threat is the armies that would descend on Judah for its covenant unfaithfulness. The warning shows that God's patience has limits and that persistent sin invites judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 6:1O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
- Jer 4:6Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
- Jer 10:22Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
- Isa 41:25I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
- Jer 50:9For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
- Jer 6:22Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.
- Jer 31:8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
- Jer 50:41Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
- Jer 46:20Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
- Ezek 1:4And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 1:14 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
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.