Yahweh called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit.” With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.
Parallel translations
- KJV The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
- BSB The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.
- NKJV The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, And its branches are broken.
- NASB The Lord named you “A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”; With the noise of a great tumult He has set fire to it, And its branches are worthless.
- NLT I, the Lord, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken.
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
Once a flourishing olive tree, Judah will be set ablaze and broken in judgment.
Overview
God had made Judah like a beautiful, fruitful olive tree, an image of His gracious blessing. But because of sin, that tree is now consigned to fire and shattered branches. Paul later uses the olive tree image to warn that unbelief breaks off branches while faith grafts in (Romans 11:17-21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Rom 11:17–24But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Ps 52:8But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house. I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.
- Ps 80:16It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
- Jer 21:14I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.’”
- John 15:6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Ezek 15:4–7Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?
- Matt 3:10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- Ps 83:2For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
- Isa 1:30–31For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
- Ezek 20:47–48and tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
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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 11:16 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
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.