I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
Parallel translations
- WEB I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger.
- KJV I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
- NKJV I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the Lord, By His fierce anger.
- NASB I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.
- NLT I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness. The towns lay in ruins, crushed by the Lord’s fierce anger.
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
The fruitful land becomes wilderness and its cities lie broken before the Lord's fierce anger. It matters because it names God's anger as the cause of the devastation seen.
Overview
What was a productive field is now a wasteland, its cities ruined 'at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger.' The vision's source is the Lord's righteous wrath against sin. This sober truth that God's anger is real should drive sinners to the refuge He provides, for Christ bore that wrath for His people (Nahum 1:6; Romans 5:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 107:34and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Isa 5:9–10I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.
- Ps 76:7You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?
- Isa 7:20–25On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well.
- Jer 12:4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Jer 14:2–6“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
- Mic 3:12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Deut 29:23–28All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
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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 4:26 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.