¶I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness; And to 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.
- KJV I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, 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.
- 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 24:29But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
- Mark 13:24–25But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,
- Isa 13:10For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
- Joel 3:15–16The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
- Gen 1:2The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Luke 21:25–26There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves;
- Ezek 32:7–8When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.
- Amos 8:9It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “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 quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
- Joel 2:30–31I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
- Acts 2:19–20I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.
- Isa 5:30They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- Isa 24:19–23The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently.
- Jer 9:10I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have 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.