Jeremiah 4:24

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I looked at the mountains,and they were quaking;all the hills shook.

Hebrew Names Version
I saw the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

King James Version
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

English Standard Version
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

New American Standard Bible
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills jolted back and forth.

New Century Version
I looked at the mountains, and they were shaking. All the hills were trembling.

Amplified Bible
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were trembling, And all the hills moved back and forth.

World English Bible
I saw the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

Geneva Bible (1587)
I behelde the mountaines: and loe, they trembled and all the hilles shooke.

Legacy Standard Bible
I saw on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,And all the hills moved to and fro.

Berean Standard Bible
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

Contemporary English Version
The mountains were shaking;

Complete Jewish Bible
I looked at the mountains, and they shook — all the hills moved back and forth.

Darby Translation
I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills shook violently.

Easy-to-Read Version
I looked at the mountains, and they were shaking. All the hills were trembling.

George Lamsa Translation
And I looked on the mountains, and, to, they trembled and all the hills were shattered.

Good News Translation
I looked at the mountains—they were shaking, and the hills were rocking back and forth.

Lexham English Bible
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.

Literal Translation
I looked on the mountains, and, behold! They quaked, and all the hills were shaken.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I behelde the mountaynes, and they trembled, and all the hilles were in a feare.

American Standard Version
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.

Bible in Basic English
Looking at the mountains, I saw them shaking, and all the hills were moved about.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.

King James Version (1611)
I beheld the mountaines, and loe they trembled, and all the hilles mooued lightly.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I behelde the mountaynes, and lo, they trembled, and all the hylles were in a feare.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I beheld the mountains, and they trembled, and I saw all the hills in commotion.

English Revised Version
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y siy munteyns, and lo! tho weren mouyd, and all litle hillis weren disturblid.

Update Bible Version
I saw the mountains, and, look, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.

Webster's Bible Translation
I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

New English Translation
I looked at the mountains and saw that they were shaking. All the hills were swaying back and forth!

New King James Version
I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth.

New Living Translation
I looked at the mountains and hills, and they trembled and shook.

New Life Bible
I looked on the mountains and saw they were shaking, and all the hills moved this way and that.

New Revised Standard
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I beheld, The mountains, and lo! they were trembling, - And all the hills, had been violently moved:

Douay-Rheims Bible
I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all the hills were troubled.

Revised Standard Version
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

Young's Literal Translation
I have looked [to] the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills moved to and fro.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹I'm doubled up with cramps in my belly— a poker burns in my gut. My insides are tearing me up, never a moment's peace. The ram's horn trumpet blast rings in my ears, the signal for all-out war. Disaster hard on the heels of disaster, the whole country in ruins! In one stroke my home is destroyed, the walls flattened in the blink of an eye. How long do I have to look at the warning flares, listen to the siren of danger? ²² "What fools my people are! They have no idea who I am. A company of half-wits, dopes and donkeys all! Experts at evil but klutzes at good." ²³I looked at the earth— it was back to pre-Genesis chaos and emptiness. I looked at the skies, and not a star to be seen. I looked at the mountains— they were trembling like aspen leaves, And all the hills rocking back and forth in the wind. I looked—what's this! Not a man or woman in sight, and not a bird to be seen in the skies. I looked—this can't be! Every garden and orchard shriveled up. All the towns were ghost towns. And all this because of God , because of the blazing anger of God . ²⁷Yes, this is God 's Word on the matter: "The whole country will be laid waste— still it won't be the end of the world. The earth will mourn and the skies lament Because I've given my word and won't take it back. I've decided and won't change my mind." ²⁹ Someone shouts, "Horsemen and archers!" and everybody runs for cover. They hide in ditches, they climb into caves. The cities are emptied, not a person left anywhere. ³⁰And you, what do you think you're up to? Dressing up in party clothes, Decking yourselves out in jewelry, putting on lipstick and rouge and mascara! Your primping goes for nothing. You're not going to seduce anyone. They're out to kill you! And what's that I hear? The cry of a woman in labor, the screams of a mother giving birth to her firstborn. It's the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath, reaching out for help: "Help, oh help me! I'm dying! The killers are on me!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mountains: Jeremiah 8:16, Jeremiah 10:10, Judges 5:4, Judges 5:5, 1 Kings 19:11, Psalms 18:7, Psalms 77:18, Psalms 97:4, Psalms 114:4-7, Isaiah 5:25, Ezekiel 38:20, Micah 1:4, Nahum 1:5, Nahum 1:6, Habakkuk 3:6, Habakkuk 3:10

Reciprocal: Exodus 19:18 - whole Job 9:6 - the pillars Job 14:18 - the mountain Psalms 46:3 - mountains Psalms 60:2 - made Psalms 99:1 - earth Isaiah 13:13 - the earth Isaiah 34:4 - all the Isaiah 42:15 - General Amos 8:8 - the land

Cross-References

Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

Matthew 18:22
Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,.... At the presence of God, at the tokens of his displeasure, and at his awful vengeance in the destruction of the Jews, as they are sometimes said to do, Psalms 68:8:

and all the hills moved lightly; so Kimchi's father says the word used has the signification of lightness; though Jarchi, from Menachem, explains it, they were plucked up, and thrown out of their place; and some render it, were pulled down and destroyed, so the Targum. Mountains and hills are most stable, and not easily moved, wherefore this is said, to aggravate the desolation and destruction.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In four verses each beginning with “I beheld,” the prophet sees in vision the desolate condition of Judaea during the Babylonian captivity.

Jeremiah 4:23

Without form, and void - Desolate and void (see Genesis 1:2 note). The land has returned to a state of chaos (marginal reference note).

And the heavens - And upward to the heavens. The imagery is that of the last day of judgment. To Jeremiah’s vision all was as though the day of the Lord had come, and earth returned to the state in which it was before the first creative word (see 2 Peter 3:10).

Jeremiah 4:24

Moved lightly - “Reeled to and fro,” from the violence of the earthquake.

Jeremiah 4:26

The fruitful place - The Carmel Jeremiah 2:7, where the population had been most dense, and the labors of the farmer most richly rewarded, has become the wilderness.

At the presence - i. e., because of, at the command of Yahweh, and because of His anger.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 4:24. The mountains - hills — Princes, rulers, &c., were astonished and fled.