Jeremiah 8:17
◄  Jeremiah 8:17  ►
New International Version (©2011)
"See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you," declares the LORD.

New Living Translation (©2007)
I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm. They will bite you, and you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

English Standard Version (©2001)
For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” declares the LORD.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"For behold, I am sending serpents against you, Adders, for which there is no charm, And they will bite you," declares the LORD.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. This is the LORD's declaration.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Look, I'll send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they'll bite you."

NET Bible (©2006)
The LORD says, "Yes indeed, I am sending an enemy against you that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away. And they will inflict fatal wounds on you."

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"I am going to send snakes among you, vipers that can't be charmed. They will bite you," declares the LORD.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.

American King James Version
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, said the LORD.

American Standard Version
For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

Darby Bible Translation
For behold, I send among you serpents, vipers against which there is no charm, and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.

English Revised Version
For, behold, I will send serpents, basilisks, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

Webster's Bible Translation
For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

World English Bible
For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation
For, lo, I am sending among you serpents, Vipers that have no charmer, And they have bitten you, an affirmation of Jehovah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:14-22 At length they begin to see the hand of God lifted up. And when God appears against us, every thing that is against us appears formidable. As salvation only can be found in the Lord, so the present moment should be seized. Is there no medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom? Is there no skilful, faithful hand to apply the medicine? Yes, God is able to help and to heal them. If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the Physician there, all-sufficient; so that the people may be healed, but will not. Thus men die unpardoned and unchanged, for they will not come to Christ to be saved.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - A new image to intensify the impression of dreadfulness. Serpents, cockatrices; rather, serpents (even) basilisks. The second noun is in apposition to the more general "serpents." "Basilisks" (Serpentes regulos) are the renderings of Aquila and the Vulgate. Some species of highly venomous serpent is clearly intended; more than this we cannot say. The root probably means "to hiss." Canon Tristram thinks of "a very beautifully marked yellow serpent, and the largest of the vipers found in the Holy Land," called the Daboia xantheina. He adds that it is one of the most dangerous ('Nat. Hist. of Palestine,' p. 275).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you,.... The Chaldeans, comparable to these noxious and hurtful creatures, because of the mischief they should do unto them. The Targum is,

"for, lo, I will raise up against you people that kill as the destroying serpents.''

These were raised up by the Lord, and sent by him, just as he sent fiery serpents among the Israelites in the wilderness, when they sinned against him; there literally, here metaphorically.

Which will not be charmed: Jarchi says, at the end of seventy years a serpent becomes a cockatrice, and stops its ear, that it will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, according to Psalm 58:4, the meaning is, that these Chaldeans would not be diverted from their purposes in destroying of the Jews by any arts or methods whatever; as not by force of arms, so not by good words and entreaties, or any way that could be devised.

And they shall bite you, saith the Lord; that is, kill them, as the Targum interprets it; for the bite of a serpent is deadly.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. I—Jehovah.

cockatrices—basilisks (Isa 11:8), that is, enemies whose destructive power no means, by persuasion or otherwise, can counteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice serpents by music, and by a particular pressure on the neck render them incapable of darting (Ps 58:4, 5).

Jeremiah 8:17 Parallel Commentaries

Jeremiah 8:17 NIV
Jeremiah 8:17 NLT
Jeremiah 8:17 ESV
Jeremiah 8:17 NASB
Jeremiah 8:17 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Judah's Sin and Punishment
…15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! 16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 17For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, said the LORD.

Numbers 21:6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
Deuteronomy 32:24 I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.
Psalm 58:4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,
Psalm 58:5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.
Ecclesiastes 10:11 If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee.