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New King James Version

Jeremiah 9:15

therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   War;   Wormwood;   Scofield Reference Index - Law of Moses;   Thompson Chain Reference - Wormwood;   The Topic Concordance - Disobedience;   Forsaking;   Heart;   Israel/jews;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Disobedience to God;   Law of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Persecution;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bitter;   Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hemlock;   Wormwood,;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Wormwood;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Gall;   Hemlock;   Wormwood;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gall;   Wormwood;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Belly;   Bitter;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.
Hebrew Names Version
therefore thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Yisra'el, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
King James Version
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
English Standard Version
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.
New American Standard Bible
therefore this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them poisoned water to drink.
New Century Version
So this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
Amplified Bible
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink.
World English Bible
therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore thus sayth the Lorde of hostes, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feede this people with wormewood, and giue them waters of gall to drinke:
Legacy Standard Bible
therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
Berean Standard Bible
Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
Contemporary English Version
So I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, promise them poison to eat and drink.
Complete Jewish Bible
I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known. I will send the sword after them until I have wiped them out."
Darby Translation
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink,
Easy-to-Read Version
So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says, "I will soon make the people of Judah eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them bitter water to drink.
Good News Translation
So then, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink.
Lexham English Bible
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,
Literal Translation
so Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I will feed them, this people with wormwood, and make them drink poison waters.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore, thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I will fede this people with wormwod, and geue the gall to drynke.
American Standard Version
therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Bible in Basic English
So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
King James Version (1611)
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, euen this people with wormewood, and giue them water of gall to drinke.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therefore thus saith the Lorde of hoastes, the God of Israel: Beholde, I wyll feede this people with wormewood, and geue them gall to drinke.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them with trouble and will cause them to drink water of gall:
English Revised Version
therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
therfor the Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Lo! Y schal fede this puple with wermod, and Y schal yyue to hem drynke the watir of galle.
Update Bible Version
therefore this is what Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Look, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
New English Translation
So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, say. ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment.
New Living Translation
So now, this is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.
New Life Bible
So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "See, I will feed these people with wormwood and put poison in their drinking water.
New Revised Standard
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am feeding this people with wormwood, and giving them poisonous water to drink.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, The God of Israel, Behold me! Feeding them, even this people, with wormwood, - And I will cause them to drink, poisoned water;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Revised Standard Version
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink.
Young's Literal Translation
Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing them -- this people -- to eat wormwood, And I have caused them to drink water of gall,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.

Contextual Overview

12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through? 13 And the LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them," 15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them." 17 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come. 18 Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: "How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because we have been cast out of our dwellings."' 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation. 21 For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children--no longer to be outside! And the young men--no longer on the streets!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will: Jeremiah 8:14, Jeremiah 23:15, Jeremiah 25:15, Psalms 60:3, Psalms 69:21, Psalms 75:8, Psalms 80:5, Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 2:22, Lamentations 3:15, Lamentations 3:19, Revelation 8:11

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 29:18 - among you a root Lamentations 3:5 - gall Ezekiel 34:16 - I will feed Acts 8:23 - the gall

Cross-References

Genesis 9:8
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying:
Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.
Exodus 28:12
And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial.
Deuteronomy 7:9
"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
1 Kings 8:23
and he said: "LORD God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
Nehemiah 9:32
"Now therefore, our God, The great, the mighty, and awesome God, Who keeps covenant and mercy: Do not let all the trouble seem small before You That has come upon us, Our kings and our princes, Our priests and our prophets, Our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
Psalms 106:45
And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
Jeremiah 14:21
Do not abhor us, for Your name's sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
Ezekiel 16:60
"Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
Luke 1:72
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... He calls himself "the Lord God of hosts", of armies above and below, in heaven and in earth, in opposition to Baalim, the idols of the Gentiles; which word signifies "lords"; which, though there be many who are called so, there is but one God, and one Lord, who is God over all, and "the God of Israel"; who had chosen them, and distinguished them by the blessings of his goodness; and yet they had forsaken him, and followed after other gods; by which the eyes of his glory were provoked, and he was determined to chastise them for it:

behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood; that is, with straits or difficulties, as the Septuagint version; with bitter afflictions; such are not joyous, but grievous; which are irksome and disagreeable, as bitter things, and particularly wormwood, are to the taste. The Targum is,

"I will bring tribulation upon them, bitter as wormwood:''

and give them water of gall to drink; meaning either of the entrails of a beast so called, or of the juice of the herb hemlock, as the word is rendered in Hosea 10:4, as Kimchi; or of the poison of a serpent, as Jarchi; and so the Targum,

"and I will give them the cup of cursing to drink as the heads of serpents:''

signifying that their punishment would be very severe, though just.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.

Jeremiah 9:10

The habitations i. e - the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jeremiah 6:3).

So that none can ... - Or, “They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they “are fled, they are gone.”

Jeremiah 9:11

Dragons - Rather, jackals.

Jeremiah 9:12

For what the land perisheth ... - This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question; that question being, Wherefore did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: “It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.”

Jeremiah 9:13

The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem, was their desertion of the divine Law.

Jeremiah 9:14

Imagination - Or, as in the margin.

Which their fathers taught them - It was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them chastisement: it was a sin, which had been handed down from father to son.

Jeremiah 9:15

I will feed them ... - Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has beam, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.

Wormwood - See Deuteronomy 29:18, note, and for “water of gall,” Jeremiah 8:14, note.

Jeremiah 9:16

This verse is taken from Leviticus 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahweh’s covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.

Till I have consumed them - See Jeremiah 4:27 note. How is this “consuming” consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jeremiah 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.

Jeremiah 9:17

The mourning women - Hired to attend at funerals, and by their skilled wailings aid the real mourners in giving vent to their grief. Hence, they are called “cunning,” literally “wise” women, wisdom being constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.

Jeremiah 9:18

Take up a wailing for us - i. e., for the nation once God’s chosen people, but long spiritually dead.

Jeremiah 9:19

Forsaken - Or, left: forced to abandon the land.

Because our dwellings ... - Rather, “because they have east down our dwellings.” The whole verse is a description of their sufferings. See 2 Kings 25:1-12.

Jeremiah 9:20

The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation. See 1 Samuel 18:6; 2 Samuel 1:24. The women utter now the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors the “lamentation, i. e., dirge,” because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.

Jeremiah 9:21

Death is come up ... - i. e., death steals silently like a thief upon his victims, and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go “without,” nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.

Jeremiah 9:22

The “handful” means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle, and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles, and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 9:15. I will feed them - with wormwood — They shall have the deepest sorrow and heaviest affliction. They shall have poison instead of meat and drink.


 
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