Jeremiah 8:17

17 “See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:17 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
English Standard Version (ESV)
17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," declares the LORD.
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm. They will bite you, and you will die. I, the LORD, have spoken!”
The Message Bible (MSG)
17 "'What's more, I'm dispatching poisonous snakes among you, Snakes that can't be charmed, snakes that will bite you and kill you.'" God's Decree! Advancing from One Evil to the Next
American Standard Version (ASV)
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
17 "I am going to send snakes among you, vipers that can't be charmed. They will bite you," declares the LORD.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
17 Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. [This is] the Lord's declaration.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
17 "People of Judah, I will send poisonous snakes among you. No one will be able to charm them. And they will bite you," announces the Lord.

Jeremiah 8:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:17

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you,
&c.] The Chaldeans, comparable to these noxious and hurtful creatures, because of the mischief they should do unto them. The Targum is,

``for, lo, I will raise up against you people that kill as the destroying serpents.''
These were raised up by the Lord, and sent by him, just as he sent fiery serpents among the Israelites in the wilderness, when they sinned against him; there literally, here metaphorically. Which will not be charmed:
Jarchi says, at the end of seventy years a serpent becomes a cockatrice, and stops its ear, that it will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, according to ( Psalms 58:4 Psalms 58:5 ) , the meaning is, that these Chaldeans would not be diverted from their purposes in destroying of the Jews by any arts or methods whatever; as not by force of arms, so not by good words and entreaties, or any way that could be devised. And they shall bite you, saith the Lord;
that is, kill them, as the Targum interprets it; for the bite of a serpent is deadly.

Jeremiah 8:17 In-Context

15 We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.
16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.
17 “See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.
18 You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

Cross References 2

  • 1. Numbers 21:6; S Deuteronomy 32:24
  • 2. S Psalms 58:5; S Isaiah 3:3
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