I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
Parallel translations
- WEB I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
- BSB I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
- NKJV I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light.
- NASB ¶I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness; And to the heavens, and they had no light.
- NLT I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light.
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
Jeremiah sees the land reduced to formless waste and the heavens darkened. It matters because it portrays judgment as a terrible undoing of creation itself.
Overview
The vision deliberately echoes Genesis 1:2, 'waste and void,' picturing judgment as creation reversed into chaos and darkness. The covenant land returns to a state before order and light. This dreadful un-creation underscores sin's cosmic seriousness and points to the final renewal God will accomplish, when He makes all things new (Genesis 1:2; Revelation 21:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Matt 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
- Mark 13:24–25But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
- Isa 13:10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
- Joel 3:15–16The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
- Gen 1:2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
- Luke 21:25–26And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
- Ezek 32:7–8And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
- Amos 8:9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
- Joel 2:10The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
- Joel 2:30–31And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
- Acts 2:19–20And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
- Isa 5:30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Isa 24:19–23The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
- Jer 9:10For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:23 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.