They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.
- KJV They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
- NKJV They have made it desolate; Desolate, it mourns to Me; The whole land is made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.
- NASB “It has been made a desolation; Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.
- NLT They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
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 land is left desolate, mourning because no one takes the judgment to heart.
Overview
The devastation is total, yet the deepest tragedy is the people's spiritual indifference. No one 'lays it to heart,' meaning they fail to repent or even grieve their sin. This callousness highlights humanity's need for God to soften hard hearts, which He promises in the new covenant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Isa 42:25So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
- Jer 23:10For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.
- Jer 14:2“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
- Jer 6:8Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”
- Jer 12:4–8How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Eccl 7:2It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- Jer 10:22Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- Jer 9:11“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jer 19:8I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
- Jer 10:25Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Mal 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
- Zech 7:5“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
- Lam 1:1–5How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 12:11 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.