I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm. They will bite you, and you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Parallel translations
- WEB “For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you,” says Yahweh.
- KJV For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
- BSB “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV “For behold, I will send serpents among you, Vipers which cannot be charmed, And they shall bite you,” says the Lord.
- NASB “For behold, I am sending serpents among you, Vipers for which there is no charm; And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.
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 will send unstoppable, 'uncharmable' serpents that will bite the people. The judgment cannot be averted by human cunning.
Overview
Yahweh likens the coming enemy to venomous snakes immune to any charmer's skill, stressing that no trick or negotiation will turn the disaster aside. The image conveys both the inevitability and the deadliness of the judgment. It recalls the serpents of the wilderness and points ahead to the cross, where the bite of sin's curse was borne by Christ lifted up for the salvation of those who look to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 10:11If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue.
- Ps 58:4–5Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
- Deut 32:24They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
- Isa 14:29Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
- Num 21:6Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
- Amos 9:3Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
- Amos 5:19As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
- Rev 9:19For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm.
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 8:17 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.