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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 10:22Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
- Jer 50:41–43Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
- Jer 1:14–15Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
- Jer 5:15Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
- Jer 25:9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
- Jer 6:1O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and 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
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.