“But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
- KJV But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
- BSB But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”
- NASB “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, since they made the pleasant land desolate.”
- NLT As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”
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 scattered them among unknown nations and left the pleasant land desolate. The exile was His just judgment for their persistent disobedience.
Overview
The whirlwind of exile dispersed Judah among foreign nations, and the once-fruitful 'pleasant land' lay empty. This recounts the historical consequence of generations of refusing God's word. The grim memory sets the stage for chapter 8's reversal, where God promises to restore and bless the very land and people that judgment had desolated.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Jer 23:19Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm. It shall burst on the head of the wicked.
- Deut 28:33A nation which you don’t know eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always;
- Deut 28:64Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
- Deut 4:27Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you away.
- Jer 5:15Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know, neither understand what they say.
- Zech 2:6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh.
- Deut 28:49Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose language you will not understand;
- Jer 52:30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
- Jer 36:19Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
- Lev 26:33I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
- Dan 9:16–18Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.
- Zeph 3:6I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.
- Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
- Jer 4:11–12At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;
- Lev 26:22I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate.
- Jer 30:23Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.
- Jer 44:6Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.’
- Isa 21:1The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
- 2 Chr 36:21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
- Hab 3:14You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
- Isa 17:13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
- Jer 25:32–33Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, evil shall go out from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.”
- Dan 8:9Out of one of them came out a little horn, which grew exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land.
- Nah 1:3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
- Amos 1:14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;
- Zech 9:14Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go flash like lightning; and the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.
- Isa 66:15For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 7:14 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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