Jeremiah 16:19
O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Study Note
Study Note
Jeremiah's confession — 'O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of distress, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth' — pivots from the prophet's personal lament to an eschatological vision of Gentile recognition of the LORD's incomparability. The nations' self-condemnation — 'our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit' — represents the expected repentance of those who had inherited false religion rather than choosing it. The passage anticipates the universal pilgrimage texts of Isaiah 2 and Zechariah 8 and has been read in Jewish and Christian traditions as predicting eschatological Gentile turning from idolatry to the God of Israel. The personal and universal are held together: what sustains the individual prophet becomes the confession of the nations.
Other Translations
O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit.
O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable.
O Lord, my strength and my strong tower, my safe place in the day of trouble, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and say, The heritage of our fathers is nothing but deceit, even false things in which there is no profit.
Cross References
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established …
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, …
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge …
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; …
For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from …
And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers …
Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of …
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.