They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their blood they have shed like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.
- KJV Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
- NKJV Their blood they have shed like water all around Jerusalem, And there was no one to bury them.
- NASB They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them.
- NLT Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem; no one is left to bury the dead.
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
Blood was poured out like water with no one left to bury the dead. The slaughter was overwhelming and the survivors helpless.
Overview
The poured-out blood 'like water around Jerusalem' conveys the scale of the massacre. With no one to bury the dead, the city lay in utter desolation. Such suffering presses the cry for God's mercy and points to the day when He wipes away every tear and death is no more.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 14:16And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.
- Jer 16:4“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Rev 11:9For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb.
- Rev 16:6For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”
- Ps 79:10Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
- Rev 17:6I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.
- Rom 8:36As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
- Ps 141:7As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
- Jer 25:33Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.
- Rev 18:24And there was found in her the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.
- Jer 8:1–2“At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.
- Matt 23:35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
- Jer 15:3I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
- Jer 34:20I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 79:3 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.