My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it. My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again.
Parallel translations
- WEB My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
- KJV My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
- BSB My tent is destroyed, and all its ropes are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one left to pitch my tent or set up my curtains.
- NKJV My tent is plundered, And all my cords are broken; My children have gone from me, And they are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent anymore, Or set up my curtains.
- NASB My tent is destroyed, And all my ropes are broken. My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to stretch out my tent again Or to set up my curtains.
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
The people's 'tent' is destroyed and their children gone, with no one to rebuild. The lament pictures the devastation of homeland and family in exile.
Overview
Using the imagery of a ruined tent with broken cords and lost children, the verse mourns the shattering of home and the scattering of the people. The picture conveys the desolation of a nation torn from its land. Such loss displays the bitter consequences of forsaking God, while the longing for restoration points to the God who alone can gather and rebuild His scattered people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 4:20Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
- Jer 31:15Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
- Isa 49:20–22The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’
- Isa 54:2“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
- Lam 2:4–6He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye: In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.
- Lam 1:5Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies prosper; for Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her young children have gone into captivity before the adversary.
- Isa 51:16I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
- Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.
- Job 7:8The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 10:20 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.