As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.
Parallel translations
- WEB As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
- BSB As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me.
- NKJV As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.
- NASB “As a well keeps its waters fresh, So she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her; Sickness and wounds are constantly before Me.
- NLT She spouts evil like a fountain. Her streets echo with the sounds of violence and destruction. I always see her sickness and sores.
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
Jerusalem pours out wickedness as naturally as a well gives water, so violence and ruin are constant before God. Sin had become the city's habitual character.
Overview
The well image conveys that evil flowed from Judah continually and effortlessly, not occasionally. God says sickness and wounds are 'continually before me,' stressing that He sees every act of cruelty. This unrelenting wrongdoing is why judgment is just, and it exposes the human heart's need for the cleansing only God can give.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ezek 7:11Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
- Jer 20:8For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
- Ezek 7:23Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
- Isa 57:20But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
- Jas 3:10–12Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
- Ps 55:9–11Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
- Mic 2:8–10Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
- Mic 7:2–3The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
- Mic 3:9–12Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
- Mic 2:1–2Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Mic 3:1–3And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
- Ezek 22:3–12Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
- Prov 4:23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
- Ezek 24:7For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
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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 6:7 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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