Lift up your eyes and see Those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, Your beautiful sheep?
Parallel translations
- WEB Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
- KJV Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
- BSB Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?
- NASB ¶“Raise your eyes and see Those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, Your beautiful sheep?
- NLT Open up your eyes and see the armies marching down from the north! Where is your flock— your beautiful flock— that he gave you to care for?
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 asks Jerusalem to behold the enemy from the north and account for the flock entrusted to her.
Overview
The threat 'from the north' is Babylon, God's instrument of judgment. The lost 'beautiful flock' represents the people the leaders failed to shepherd faithfully. The questioning tone holds the nation accountable for the ruin its unfaithfulness has caused.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 6:22Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
- Jer 23:2Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.
- Hab 1:6For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
- Jer 1:14Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
- 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.
- Acts 20:26–29Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
- Jer 13:17But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive.
- Isa 56:9–12All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
- Zech 11:16–17For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the meat of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.
- Ezek 34:7–10Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
- John 10:12–13He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
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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 13:20 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
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