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“‘“I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.
Jeremiah 19:7 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
  • BSB And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
  • NKJV And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
  • NASB And I will frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.
  • NLT “‘For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.

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 frustrate Judah's plans and let them fall by the sword, their bodies left as food for birds and beasts. Their defenses will utterly fail.

Overview

The Lord will pour out the counsel of Judah, that is, render their schemes useless, and deliver them to their enemies. The horror of unburied corpses given to scavengers signals total defeat and disgrace (Deuteronomy 28:26). The image of emptying out matches the soon-to-be-emptied flask, binding sign and judgment together.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Lev 26:17I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you.
  • Jer 16:4“They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.”
  • Jer 34:20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.
  • Jer 15:2It shall happen, when they tell you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’
  • Jer 7:33The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and no one shall frighten them away.
  • Isa 28:17–18I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
  • Jer 15:9She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies,” says Yahweh.
  • Ps 79:2–3They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.
  • Ps 33:10–11Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
  • Deut 28:25–26Yahweh 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.
  • Jer 22:25and I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
  • Jer 18:21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
  • Rom 4:14For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.
  • Rev 19:18–21that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, and small and great.”
  • Jer 9:21–22For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
  • Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.
  • Jer 8:2and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.
  • Lam 3:37Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
  • Jer 22:19He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
  • Isa 8:10Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.”
  • Rom 3:31Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
  • Isa 30:1–3“Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
  • Jer 46:26I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says Yahweh.
  • Job 5:12–13He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 19:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 19:7 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.