Jeremiah 16:16
New International Version
“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.

New Living Translation
“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the LORD. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves.

English Standard Version
“Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Berean Standard Bible
But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

King James Bible
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

New King James Version
“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

New American Standard Bible
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

NASB 1995
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

NASB 1977
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I shall send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares Yahweh, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the crevices of the rocks.

Amplified Bible
“Behold (listen carefully), I will send for many fishermen,” says the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Christian Standard Bible
“I am about to send for many fishermen” —this is the LORD’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“I am about to send for many fishermen"—this is the LORD’s declaration—"and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

American Standard Version
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Behold, I am sending many fishermen, says LORD JEHOVAH, and they shall catch them, and after that I shall send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the caves of the cliffs

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Behold, I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain, and upon every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Contemporary English Version
But for now, I am sending enemies who will catch you like fish and hunt you down like wild animals in the hills and the caves.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

English Revised Version
Behold, I will send for many fishers saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"I'm going to send for many fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks.

Good News Translation
The LORD says, "I am sending for many fishermen to come and catch these people. Then I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain and hill and in the caves among the rocks.

International Standard Version
"I'm about to send many fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they'll catch them. Afterwards, I'll send for many hunters and they'll hunt for them on every mountain and hill and in the crevices of the rocks.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Literal Standard Version
Behold, I am sending for many fishers,” | A declaration of YHWH, | “And they have fished them, | And after this I send for many hunters, | And they have hunted them from off every mountain, | And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks.

Majority Standard Bible
But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

New American Bible
Look!—oracle of the LORD—I will send many fishermen to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and rocky crevice.

NET Bible
But for now I, the LORD, say: "I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.

New Revised Standard Version
I am now sending for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

New Heart English Bible
Look, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

World English Bible
“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, I am sending for many fishers, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God will Restore Israel
15Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. 16But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks. 17For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 26:20
So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains."

Isaiah 2:21
They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

Isaiah 7:19
And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks, in all the thornbushes and watering holes.

Jeremiah 4:29
Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

Jeremiah 6:9
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches."

Jeremiah 49:5
Behold, 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.

Lamentations 4:18
They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!


Treasury of Scripture

Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

I will send.

Jeremiah 25:9
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Amos 4:2
The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

Habakkuk 1:14,15
And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? …

hunter.

Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

1 Samuel 24:11
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.

1 Samuel 26:20
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

every mountain.

Isaiah 24:17,18
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth…

Amos 5:19
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Amos 9:1-3
I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered…

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Affirmation Afterward Afterwards Bowmen Catch Clefts Crevices Declares Fish Fishermen Fishers Great Hill Holes Hunt Hunted Mountain Net Numbers Rocks Sending
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Affirmation Afterward Afterwards Bowmen Catch Clefts Crevices Declares Fish Fishermen Fishers Great Hill Holes Hunt Hunted Mountain Net Numbers Rocks Sending
Jeremiah 16
1. The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage,
8. from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshows the utter ruin of the Jews;
10. because they were worse than their fathers.
14. Their return from captivity shall be stranger than their deliverance out of Egypt.
16. God will doubly recompense their idolatry.














(16) I will send for many fishers . . .--The words refer to the threat, not to the promise. The "fishers," as in Amos 4:2; Habakkuk 1:15, are the invading nations, surrounding Judah and Jerusalem as with a drag-net, and allowing none to escape. The process is described under this very name of "drag-netting" the country by Herodotus (iii. 149, 6:31), as applied by the army of Xerxes to Samos, Chios, Tenedos, and other islands. The application of the words either to the gathering of the people after their dispersion or to the later work of the preachers of the Gospel is an after-thought, having its source in our Lord's words, "I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). It is, of course, possible enough that those words may have been suggested by Jeremiah's, the same image being used, as in the parable of Matthew 13:47, to describe the blessing which had before presented its darker aspect of punishment.

Hunters.--Another aspect of the same thought, pointing, so far as we can trace the distinction between the two, to the work of the irregular skirmisher as the former image did to that of the main body of the army: men might take refuge, as hunted beasts might do, in the caves of the rocks, but they should be driven forth even from these.

Verses 16, 17. - I will send for should rather be, I will send. Fishers and hunters, by a divinely given impulse, shall "fish" and "hunt" the unhappy fugitives from their lurking-places. There may, perhaps, be an allusion to the cruel ancient practice of "sweeping the country with a drag-net" (Herod, 3:149), and then destroying the male population: Samos, e.g. was thus "netted" and depopulated by the Persians. Habakkuk may also refer to this when he says (Habakkuk 1:15), "They catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
But for now
הִנְנִ֨י (hin·nî)
Interjection | first person common singular
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

I will send for
שֹׁלֵ֜חַ (šō·lê·aḥ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

many
רַבִּ֛ים (rab·bîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7227: Much, many, great

fishermen,
לְדַיָּגִ֥ים (lə·ḏay·yā·ḡîm)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1771: A fisherman

declares
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

the LORD,
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and they will catch them.
וְדִיג֑וּם (wə·ḏî·ḡūm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural | third person masculine plural
Strong's 1770: To fish for, catch

After that
וְאַֽחֲרֵי־ (wə·’a·ḥă·rê-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

I will send
אֶשְׁלַח֙ (’eš·laḥ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 7971: To send away, for, out

for many
לְרַבִּ֣ים (lə·rab·bîm)
Preposition-l | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 7227: Much, many, great

hunters,
צַיָּדִ֔ים (ṣay·yā·ḏîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 6719: A huntsman

and they will hunt them down
וְצָד֞וּם (wə·ṣā·ḏūm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural | third person masculine plural
Strong's 6679: To lie alongside, to catch an animal, to victual

on
מֵעַ֤ל (mê·‘al)
Preposition-m
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

every
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

mountain
הַר֙ (har)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

and hill,
גִּבְעָ֔ה (giḇ·‘āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1389: A hillock

even from the clefts
וּמִנְּקִיקֵ֖י (ū·min·nə·qî·qê)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 5357: Cleft (of a rock)

of the rocks.
הַסְּלָעִֽים׃ (has·sə·lā·‘îm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5553: A craggy rock


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 16:16 Behold I will send for many fishermen (Jer.)
Jeremiah 16:15
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