Lexicon :: Strong's H776 - 'ereṣ

Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster will be poured out[fn] from the north on all who live in the land.

“Today, I am the one who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land ​— ​against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.

They stopped asking, “Where is the LORD

who brought us from the land of Egypt,

who led us through the wilderness,

through a land of deserts and ravines,

through a land of drought and darkness,[fn]

a land no one traveled through

and where no one lived? ”

I brought you to a fertile land

to eat its fruit and bounty,

but after you entered, you defiled my land;

you made my inheritance detestable.

The young lions have roared at him;

they have roared loudly.

They have laid waste his land.

His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

Evil generation,

pay attention to the word of the LORD!

Have I been a wilderness to Israel

or a land of dense darkness?

Why do my people claim,

“We will go where we want;[fn]

we will no longer come to you”?

Look to the barren heights and see.

Where have you not been immoral?

You sat waiting for them beside the highways

like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness.

“Indifferent to[fn] her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

“When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration ​— ​no one will say again, “The ark of the LORD’s covenant.” It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.[fn]

In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’ ”

I thought, “How I long to make you my sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.”

I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’

and never turn away from me.”

A lion has gone up from his thicket;

a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his lair

to make your land a waste.

Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

Warn the nations: Look!

Proclaim to Jerusalem:

Those who besiege are coming

from a distant land;

they raise their voices

against the cities of Judah.

Disaster after disaster is reported

because the whole land is destroyed.

Suddenly my tents are destroyed,

my tent curtains, in a moment.

I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and empty.

I looked to the heavens,

and their light was gone.

For this is what the LORD says:

“The whole land will be a desolation,

but I will not finish it off.

“Because of this, the earth will mourn;

the skies above will grow dark.

I have spoken; I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back from it.”

“An appalling, horrible thing

has taken place in the land.

Their houses will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well,

for I will stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land.

This is the LORD’s declaration.

Listen, earth!

I am about to bring disaster on these people,

the fruit of their own plotting,

for they have paid no attention to my words.

They have rejected my instruction.

What use to me is frankincense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please me.

This is what the LORD says:

Look, an army is coming from a northern land;

a great nation will be stirred up

from the remote regions of the earth.

“for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

“Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, I have sent all my servants the prophets to you time and time again.[fn]

“The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.

“I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste.

Listen ​— ​the cry of my dear people

from a faraway land,

“Is the LORD no longer in Zion,

her King not within her? ”

Why have they angered me

with their carved images,

with their worthless foreign idols?

Who is the person wise enough to understand this? Who has the LORD spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:

How devastated we are.

We are greatly ashamed,

for we have abandoned the land;

our dwellings have been torn down.

“But the one who boasts should boast in this:

that he understands and knows me —

that I am the LORD, showing faithful love,

justice, and righteousness on the earth,

for I delight in these things.

This is the LORD’s declaration.

He made the earth by his power,

established the world by his wisdom,

and spread out the heavens by his understanding.

When he thunders,[fn]

the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,

and he causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain

and brings the wind from his storehouses.

Gather up your belongings[fn] from the ground,

you who live under siege.

For this is what the LORD says:

Look, I am flinging away

the land’s residents at this time

and bringing them such distress

that they will feel it.

Listen! A noise ​— ​it is coming —

a great commotion from the land to the north.

The cities of Judah will be made desolate,

a jackals’ den.

in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’ ”

I answered, “Amen, LORD.”

“For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,[fn] ‘Obey me.’

for I was like a docile[fn] lamb led to slaughter.

I didn’t know that they had devised plots against me:

“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;[fn]

let’s cut him off from the land of the living

so that his name will no longer be remembered.”