Jeremiah 18:17

17 ¹Like the east wind ²I will scatter them before the enemy. ³I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."

Jeremiah 18:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:17

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,
&c.] As the east wind, which is generally strong and boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to withstand. It denotes the power of the enemy God would make use of; the ease with which this should be done; and the utter dispersion of them; and is their present case: I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity;
that is, will not look upon them in a favourable way, nor with any pity and compassion for them, nor hear their cries; but turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear unto them, and give them no help and relief, or deliver them out of their calamities; but suffer them to continue upon them, and them to sink under them; see ( Proverbs 1:26-28 ) ; which refers to the same time of calamity as here.

Jeremiah 18:17 In-Context

15 But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,

16 making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.

17 Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."

18 Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."

19 Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries.

Cross References

• 1. Gen. 41:6, 23, 27; Exodus 10:13; Job 27:21; Psalms 48:7; Ezekiel 27:26; Hosea 13:15; Jonah 4:8
• 2. Jeremiah 13:24
• 3. [Jeremiah 2:27]