This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
- KJV Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.
- NKJV Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a people comes from the north country, And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
- NASB ¶This is what the Lord says: “Behold, there is a people coming from the north land, And a great nation will be stirred up from the remote parts of the earth.
- NLT This is what the Lord says: “Look! A great army coming from the north! A great nation is rising against you from far-off lands.
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 announces a great and fearsome nation advancing from the distant north. The instrument of judgment is identified as a powerful foreign army.
Overview
This 'people from the north' points to Babylon, the empire God would use to discipline Judah. Calling them stirred up 'from the uttermost parts of the earth' stresses their reach and might. God's sovereignty over the nations means even pagan empires serve His purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 10:22Listen! The sound of a report is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- Jer 50:41–43Behold, an army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jer 1:14–15Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.
- Jer 5:15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jer 6:1“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.
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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 6:22 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
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