“Go west and look in the land of Cyprus; go east and search through the land of Kedar. Has anyone ever heard of anything as strange as this?
Parallel translations
- WEB For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.
- KJV For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
- BSB Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
- NKJV For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing.
- NASB “For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see, And send to Kedar and observe closely, And see if there has been anything like this!
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 invites them to look anywhere and see if any nation acted so absurdly. Israel's sin is uniquely unnatural.
Overview
Yahweh tells them to look west to Cyprus (Kittim) or east to Kedar and see if such a thing has ever happened. The challenge highlights how unprecedented and irrational Israel's apostasy is. Even pagan nations show more loyalty to their gods than Israel showed to the living God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 120:5Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
- Jer 18:13–14Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things. The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
- Isa 21:16For the Lord said to me, “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,
- Judg 19:30It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.”
- Gen 10:4–5The sons of Javan were: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
- 1 Chr 1:7The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
- Ezek 27:6Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim.
- Gen 25:13These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
- Dan 11:30For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall take action: he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.
- Num 24:24But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction.”
- 1 Chr 23:12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.
- 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
- 1 Chr 23:1Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
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 2:10 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.