‘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.’ ”
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.
- BSB 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.”
- 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.”
- 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“Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.
- Jer 2:27who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’
- Hos 13:15Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
- Ps 48:7With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
- Job 27:21The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
- Jer 46:21Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
- Jer 32:33They have turned to me the back, and not the face: and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.
- Prov 7:25–26Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths,
- Deut 28:64Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
- Deut 28:25Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Deut 31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
- Deut 32:35Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Judg 10:13–14Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more.
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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.