Jeremiah 49:4
New International Version
Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? Unfaithful Daughter Ammon, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’

New Living Translation
You are proud of your fertile valleys, but they will soon be ruined. You trusted in your wealth, you rebellious daughter, and thought no one could ever harm you.

English Standard Version
Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

Berean Standard Bible
Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’

King James Bible
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

New King James Version
Why do you boast in the valleys, Your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

New American Standard Bible
“How you boast about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, You backsliding daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who can come against me?’

NASB 1995
“How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O backsliding daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

NASB 1977
“How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O backsliding daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

Legacy Standard Bible
How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

Amplified Bible
“Why do you boast of your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, [O Ammon] rebellious and faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’

Christian Standard Bible
Why do you boast about your valleys, your flowing valley, you faithless daughter — you who trust in your treasures and say, “Who can attack me? ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Why do you brag about your valleys, your flowing valley, you faithless daughter? You who trust in your treasures and boast, “Who can attack me?”

American Standard Version
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

Contemporary English Version
You rebellious Ammonites trust your wealth and ask, "Who could attack us?" But I warn you not to boast when your strength is fading.

English Revised Version
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Why do you brag about your valleys, your fertile valleys, you unfaithful people? You trust your treasures. You think, "Who would attack me?"

Good News Translation
Why do you unfaithful people boast? Your strength is failing. Why do you trust in your power and say that no one would dare attack you?

International Standard Version
Why do you boast in your valleys? Your valley is flowing away, faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'

Majority Standard Bible
Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’

NET Bible
Why do you brag about your great power? Your power is ebbing away, you rebellious people of Ammon, who trust in your riches and say, 'Who would dare to attack us?'

New Heart English Bible
Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You who trusted in her treasures, saying, "Who shall come to me?"

Webster's Bible Translation
Why gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?

World English Bible
Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Why do you boast yourself in valleys? Your valley is flowing, "" O backsliding daughter, "" Who is trusting in her treasures: Who comes to me?

Young's Literal Translation
What -- dost thou boast thyself in valleys? Flowed hath thy valley, O backsliding daughter, Who is trusting in her treasures: Who doth come in unto me?

Smith's Literal Translation
Wherefore wilt thou boast in the valleys, thy valley flowing away, O daughter turning away? trusting in her treasures, Who shall come to me?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Why gloriest thou in the valleys? thy valley hath flowed away, O delicate daughter, that hast trusted in thy treasures, and hast said: Who shall come to me?

Catholic Public Domain Version
Why have you gloried in the valleys? Your valley has flowed away, O delicate daughter, for you had confidence in your treasures, and you were saying, ‘Who can approach me?’

New American Bible
Why boast in your strength, your ebbing strength, rebellious daughter? Why trust in your treasures, saying, “Who would dare attack me?”

New Revised Standard Version
Why do you boast in your strength? Your strength is ebbing, O faithless daughter. You trusted in your treasures, saying, “Who will attack me?”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Why do you glory in your valleys and trust in your broad plains, O beloved daughter who trusts in her treasures, saying, Who shall come against me?

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Why do you glory in your valleys and you trust on your broad valleys, beloved daughter who trusts on her treasures, and says: “Who will come against me?”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, Thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? That didst trust in thy treasures: 'Who shall come unto me?'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Why do ye exult in the plains of the Enakim, thou haughty daughter, that trustest in thy treasures, that sayest, Who shall come in to me?
Audio Bible



Context
The Judgment on the Ammonites
3Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials. 4Why do you boast of your valleys— your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’ 5Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, from all those around you. You will each be driven headlong, with no one to regather the fugitives.…

Cross References
Isaiah 10:12-14
So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. / For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers. / My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

Ezekiel 28:4-5
By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries. / By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.

Obadiah 1:3-4
The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ / Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 47:7-8
You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome. / So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’

Zephaniah 2:15
This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Proverbs 11:28
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.

Isaiah 2:11-12
The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. / For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

Ezekiel 28:17
Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings.

Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isaiah 14:13-15
You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. / I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” / But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

Luke 12:19-20
Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ / But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

Revelation 18:7-8
As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’ / Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

James 4:13-16
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” / You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. / Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” ...

1 Timothy 6:17
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

Matthew 6:19-21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. / But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. / For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


Treasury of Scripture

Why glory you in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?

gloriest

Jeremiah 9:23
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

Isaiah 28:1-4
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! …

Isaiah 47:7,8
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it…

thy flowing valley.

Jeremiah 3:14
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

Jeremiah 7:24
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Hosea 4:16
For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

trusted

Jeremiah 48:7
For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.

Psalm 49:6
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

Psalm 52:7
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

Who

Jeremiah 49:16
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 21:13
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

Jump to Previous
Account Attack Backsliding Boast Boastful Daughter Faith Faithless Flow Flowed Flowing Fruitful Gloriest Glory Lifted Pride Puts Riches Thyself Treasures Trust Trusted Trusteth Trusts Turning Unfaithful Valley Valleys Wealth Wherefore Who
Jump to Next
Account Attack Backsliding Boast Boastful Daughter Faith Faithless Flow Flowed Flowing Fruitful Gloriest Glory Lifted Pride Puts Riches Thyself Treasures Trust Trusted Trusteth Trusts Turning Unfaithful Valley Valleys Wealth Wherefore Who
Jeremiah 49
1. The judgment of the Ammonites
6. Their restoration
7. The judgment of Edom
23. of Damascus
28. of Kedar
30. of Hazor
34. and of Elam
39. The restoration of Elam














Why do you boast
The Hebrew word for "boast" here is "תִּתְהַלְּלִי" (tithalleli), which conveys a sense of pride or self-glorification. In the context of Jeremiah, this is a rhetorical question aimed at the Ammonites, who are being chastised for their misplaced confidence. The Bible often warns against boasting, especially when it is rooted in earthly possessions or achievements rather than in the Lord. This serves as a reminder that true security and worth come from God, not from human accomplishments or possessions.

your valleys
The term "valleys" refers to the fertile and productive regions that the Ammonites inhabited. In ancient times, valleys were often associated with abundance and prosperity due to their agricultural potential. The Ammonites' pride in their valleys symbolizes their reliance on material wealth and natural resources. This reflects a broader biblical theme where reliance on physical or material strength is contrasted with reliance on God.

your valleys so fruitful
The phrase "so fruitful" emphasizes the abundance and prosperity of the Ammonite lands. The Hebrew word for "fruitful" is "שָׁפֵעַ" (shafea), which denotes richness and fertility. This abundance, however, becomes a source of pride and false security for the Ammonites. The Bible frequently warns against the dangers of allowing material prosperity to lead to spiritual complacency or arrogance.

O faithless daughter
The term "faithless daughter" is a metaphorical expression used to describe the Ammonites. In Hebrew, "בַּת הַשֹּׁובֵבָה" (bat hashovevah) conveys a sense of betrayal or unfaithfulness. The imagery of a "daughter" suggests a relationship that has been broken or neglected. This highlights the Ammonites' spiritual infidelity and their turning away from God, which is a recurring theme in the prophetic books.

You trust in your riches
The phrase "trust in your riches" underscores the misplaced confidence of the Ammonites. The Hebrew word for "trust" is "בָּטַח" (batach), which implies a sense of security or reliance. The Bible consistently teaches that trust should be placed in God rather than in material wealth, as riches are fleeting and cannot provide true security or salvation.

and say, ‘Who can come against me?’
This rhetorical question reflects the arrogance and false sense of invincibility that the Ammonites possess. The phrase suggests a belief in their own strength and security, dismissing the possibility of external threats. Biblically, this attitude is often condemned, as it ignores the sovereignty and power of God, who is the ultimate protector and judge. The question serves as a warning against self-reliance and a call to recognize God's authority over all nations and peoples.

(4) In the valleys.--The word exactly describes the conformation of the Ammonite country, as a high plateau intersected by streams which make their way to the Jordan. For "thy flowing valley" read "thy valley" (this is, of course, the valley in which Rabbah was situated) "that floweth with plenty." The words admit, however, of being rendered, "Thy valley floweth away," i.e., is wasted and emptied.

O backsliding daughter.--There is something suggestive in the fact that the prophet applies to Ammon the epithet which he had applied before to the kingdom of the Ten Tribes (Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 3:8; Jeremiah 3:11; Jeremiah 3:14). Ammon also had the opportunity of worshipping the God of Israel, and had probably, as long as the Israelites were her rulers, adopted that worship wholly or in part, and so she also was an apostate. The question which follows, as in Jeremiah 21:13, implies that the people of Rabbah looked on their city as impregnable. . . .

Verse 4. - The valleys; i.e. long extended plains, such as were suitable for cornfields (Isaiah 17:5; Psalm 65:14), and such as characterized the territory of the Ammonites. Thy flowing valley. "Flowing;" that is, abounding with rich crops. The meaning of the phrase, however, is only probable.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Why
מַה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

do you boast
תִּתְהַֽלְלִי֙ (tiṯ·hal·lî)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 1984: To shine

of your valleys,
בָּֽעֲמָקִ֔ים (bā·‘ă·mā·qîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 6010: A vale

your valleys
עִמְקֵ֔ךְ (‘im·qêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 6010: A vale

so fruitful,
זָ֣ב (zāḇ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 2100: To flow freely, to have a, flux, to waste away, to overflow

O faithless
הַשּֽׁוֹבֵבָ֑ה (haš·šō·w·ḇê·ḇāh)
Article | Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 7728: Apostate, heathenish, heathen

daughter?
הַבַּ֖ת (hab·baṯ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1323: A daughter

You trust
הַבֹּֽטְחָה֙ (hab·bō·ṭə·ḥāh)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 982: To trust, be confident, sure

in your riches [and say],
בְּאֹ֣צְרֹתֶ֔יהָ (bə·’ō·ṣə·rō·ṯe·hā)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 214: Treasure, store, a treasury, storehouse

‘Who
מִ֖י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

can come against
יָב֥וֹא (yā·ḇō·w)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

me?’
אֵלָֽי׃ (’ê·lāy)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to


Links
Jeremiah 49:4 NIV
Jeremiah 49:4 NLT
Jeremiah 49:4 ESV
Jeremiah 49:4 NASB
Jeremiah 49:4 KJV

Jeremiah 49:4 BibleApps.com
Jeremiah 49:4 Biblia Paralela
Jeremiah 49:4 Chinese Bible
Jeremiah 49:4 French Bible
Jeremiah 49:4 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Jeremiah 49:4 Why glory you in the valleys your (Jer.)
Jeremiah 49:3
Top of Page
Top of Page