I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
- KJV I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
- NKJV I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face In the day of their calamity.”
- NASB ‘Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face In the day of their disaster.’ ”
- NLT I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress.”
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 will scatter his people before their enemies and turn his back on them in their disaster. Persistent rebellion forfeits his protecting presence.
Overview
Like an east wind driving chaff, God will disperse Judah before invaders, showing them his back instead of his face in the day of calamity. The withdrawal of God's favorable presence is the gravest judgment of all. It reveals the seriousness of sin and magnifies the grace by which, in Christ, God turns his face toward us again (Numbers 6:25-26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 13:24“I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.
- Jer 2:27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’
- Hos 13:15Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
- Ps 48:7With a wind from the east You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.
- Job 27:21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
- Jer 46:21Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time of their punishment.
- Jer 32:33They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
- Prov 7:25–26Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths.
- Deut 28:64Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Deut 28:25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deut 31:17On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
- Deut 32:35Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
- Judg 10:13–14But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
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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 18:17 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.