They have made it desolate; Desolate, it mourns to Me; The whole land is made desolate, Because no one 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.
- BSB They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man 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 42:25Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know; and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
- Jer 23:10For the land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right;
- Jer 14:2“Judah mourns, and its gates languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
- Jer 6:8Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.”
- Jer 12:4–8How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, “He shall not see our latter end.”
- Eccl 7:2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
- Jer 10:22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.
- Jer 9:11“I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jer 19:8I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
- Jer 10:25Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
- Mal 2:2If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says Yahweh of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.
- Zech 7:5“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?
- Lam 1:1–5How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become tributary!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 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.