How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town that brings Me joy?
Parallel translations
- WEB How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
- KJV How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
- NKJV Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
- NASB “How the city of praise has not been deserted, The town of My joy!
- NLT That famous city, a city of joy, will be forsaken!
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 lament asks how the celebrated, joyful city could be left abandoned. Even a renowned city is not spared when God judges.
Overview
The verse voices astonished sorrow that famous, beloved Damascus is now forsaken. The mournful tone shows that judgment touches even what people prize and admire. It reminds readers that earthly glory is fleeting and that lasting joy is found only in God, not in any city of man (Hebrews 13:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 33:9So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.
- Jer 51:41How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
- Isa 1:26I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”
- Isa 14:4–6you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
- Dan 4:30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Rev 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Jer 48:39“How shattered it is! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror to all those around him.”
- Rev 18:16–19saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
- Jer 48:2There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
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 49:25 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.