Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."

Bible > Jeremiah > Chapter 50 > Verse 17

◄ Jeremiah 50:17 ►

New International Version
“Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

New Living Translation
“The Israelites are like sheep that have been scattered by lions. First the king of Assyria ate them up. Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon cracked their bones.”

English Standard Version
“Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.

Berean Standard Bible
Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

King James Bible
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

New King James Version
“Israel is like scattered sheep; The lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

New American Standard Bible
“Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has gnawed his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

NASB 1995
“Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

NASB 1977
“Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Israel is a scattered flock; the lions have banished them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Amplified Bible
Israel is a hunted and scattered flock [driven here and there as prey]; the lions have chased them away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken (gnawed) his bones.

Christian Standard Bible
Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria; the last who crushed his bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria; the last one who crushed his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

American Standard Version
Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

Contemporary English Version
Israel is a flock of sheep scattered by hungry lions. The king of Assyria first gobbled Israel up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, crunched on Israel's bones.

English Revised Version
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Good News Translation
The LORD says, "The people of Israel are like sheep, chased and scattered by lions. First, they were attacked by the emperor of Assyria, and then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia gnawed on their bones.

International Standard Version
"Israel is a scattered flock, driven out by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria, and then afterward King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnawed his bones.

Majority Standard Bible
Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.?

NET Bible
"The people of Israel are like scattered sheep which lions have chased away. First the king of Assyria devoured them. Now last of all King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed their bones.

New Heart English Bible
'Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.

Webster's Bible Translation
Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

World English Bible
“Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
Israel [is as] a scattered sheep, "" Lions have driven [him] away, "" At first, the king of Asshur devoured him, "" And now, at last, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bone.

Young's Literal Translation
A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Smith's Literal Translation
Israel a scattered sheep; the lions thrust away: first the king of Assur consumed him; and the last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel bound him fast.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Israel is a scattered flock. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him. And last, this Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has taken away his bones.

New American Bible
Israel was a stray sheep that lions pursued; The king of Assyria once devoured him; now Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnaws his bones.

New Revised Standard Version
Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured it, and now at the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has gnawed its bones.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
Israel is a lost ewe; the lions have caused him to go astray; first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has inflicted a more grievous wound than the other.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
A ewe is wandering Israel. Lions caused them to go astray. First the King of Assyria devoured him and this last, Nebukadnetsar, the King of Babel, was stronger than he

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
Israel is a scattered sheep, The lions have driven him away; First the king of Assyria hath devoured him, And last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria firsts devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Redemption for God's People
17Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” 18Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.

2 Kings 18:9-12
In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. / And at the end of three years, the Assyrians captured it. So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. / The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. ...

2 Kings 24:10-16
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. / And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it. / Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him captive. ...

2 Kings 25:1-7
So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. / And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. / By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. ...

2 Chronicles 36:17-20
So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, / who carried off everything to Babylon—all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king and his officials. / Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value. ...

Isaiah 10:5-6
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. / I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

Isaiah 47:6
I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

Lamentations 1:3
Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh slavery; she dwells among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

Lamentations 1:18
The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

Ezekiel 23:22-24
Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side— / the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses. / They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

Hosea 5:14
For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.

Hosea 13:7-8
So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path. / Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.

Amos 3:12
This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

Micah 5:8
Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

Nahum 2:11-13
Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away? / The lion mauled enough for its cubs and strangled prey for the lioness. It filled its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey. / “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will reduce your chariots to cinders, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Treasury of Scripture

Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.

a scattered

Jeremiah 50:6
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

Jeremiah 23:1,2
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD…

Ezekiel 34:5,6,12
And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered…

the lions

Jeremiah 2:15
The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 5:6
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

Jeremiah 49:19
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

first

2 Kings 15:29
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

2 Kings 18:9-13
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it…

this

Jeremiah 39:1-18
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it…

Jeremiah 51:34,35
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out…

Jeremiah 52:1
Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

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Jeremiah 50

1. The judgment of Babylon and the redemption of Israel

Berean Study Bible

Israel is a scattered flock
The phrase "Israel is a scattered flock" uses pastoral imagery to describe the state of the Israelites. The Hebrew word for "scattered" is "pārad," which conveys the idea of being dispersed or divided. Historically, this reflects the period of the Babylonian exile when the Israelites were forcibly removed from their homeland. The imagery of a "flock" suggests vulnerability and a need for guidance, emphasizing Israel's dependence on God as their Shepherd. This scattering is not just physical but also spiritual, as the people have strayed from their covenant relationship with God.

driven away by lions
The "lions" symbolize powerful and aggressive nations that have attacked and oppressed Israel. In the ancient Near East, lions were often used as symbols of strength and ferocity. The Hebrew word "lābî'" for "lion" underscores the predatory nature of these nations. Historically, this refers to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, which conquered and exiled the Israelites. The imagery of being "driven away" suggests a forceful removal, highlighting the trauma and helplessness experienced by the Israelites.

First the king of Assyria devoured him
The "king of Assyria" refers to the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. The word "devoured" (Hebrew "ʾāḵal") implies complete consumption or destruction, indicating the thoroughness of Assyria's conquest. This historical event marked the beginning of the dispersion of the ten tribes of Israel, often referred to as the "Lost Tribes." The Assyrian invasion was a direct consequence of Israel's disobedience to God, serving as a divine judgment.

then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon crushed his bones
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon" represents the Babylonian Empire, which conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. The phrase "crushed his bones" uses the Hebrew word "dāḵā'" to convey a sense of breaking or shattering, symbolizing the complete and utter destruction of Judah. This event led to the Babylonian exile, a pivotal moment in Jewish history. The imagery of bone-crushing emphasizes the severity of the judgment and the depth of the suffering endured by the people. It also serves as a reminder of God's sovereignty and the consequences of turning away from His commandments.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) Israel is a scattered sheep . . .--The words paint vividly the two blows that had fallen on Israel, as a sheep driven from the fold: first from the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom by Salmaneser, and then, when, as it were, the carcase was half devoured and only the bones left, from that of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. The "lion" appears here, as in Daniel 7:4, as the symbol of the great Eastern monarchies. The fact that the sculptured winged lion appears so constantly in the remains both of Assyria and Babylon gives the imagery a special force.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Israel is a scattered sheep, etc. Here a pause in the discourse occurs. The prophet returns to the present condition of Israel, who is likened to a sheep scared away from its fold by lions. The ruin wrought by the lions is described first as "devouring" and then as "breaking the bones" of Israel - in either case it is complete destruction, but the completeness is more emphasized by the second figure. In fact, when the "ten tribes" were carried captive, the elements of the theocracy still remained in the southern kingdom.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

is a scattered
פְזוּרָ֛ה (p̄ə·zū·rāh)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - feminine singular
Strong's 6340: To scatter

flock,
שֶׂ֧ה (śeh)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7716: A member of a, flock, a sheep, goat

chased away
הִדִּ֑יחוּ (hid·dî·ḥū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5080: To impel, thrust, banish

by lions.
אֲרָי֣וֹת (’ă·rā·yō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 738: A lion

The first
הָרִאשׁ֤וֹן (hā·ri·šō·wn)
Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7223: First, in place, time, rank

to devour him
אֲכָלוֹ֙ (’ă·ḵā·lōw)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 398: To eat

was the king
מֶ֣לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Assyria;
אַשּׁ֔וּר (’aš·šūr)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 804: Ashshur

the last
הָאַחֲרוֹן֙ (hā·’a·ḥă·rō·wn)
Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 314: Hinder, late, last, western

to crush his bones
עִצְּמ֔וֹ (‘iṣ·ṣə·mōw)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6105: To bind fast, close, powerful, numerous, to crunch the bones

was Nebuchadnezzar
נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּ֖ר (nə·ḇū·ḵaḏ·reṣ·ṣar)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 5019: Nebuchadnezzar -- 'Nebo, protect the boundary', a Babylonian king

king
מֶ֥לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Babylon.”
בָּבֶֽל׃ (bā·ḇel)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 894: Babylon -- an eastern Mediterranean empire and its capital city

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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a hunted sheep (Jer.)