Jeremiah 8:13 kjv
I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
Jeremiah 8:13 nkjv
"I will surely consume them," says the LORD. "No grapes shall be on the vine, Nor figs on the fig tree, And the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them." ' "
Jeremiah 8:13 niv
"?'I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.'?"
Jeremiah 8:13 esv
When I would gather them, declares the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them."
Jeremiah 8:13 nlt
I will surely consume them.
There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes.
Their fruit trees will all die.
Whatever I gave them will soon be gone.
I, the LORD, have spoken!'
Jeremiah 8 13 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Lev 26:19-20 | And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. Your strength shall be spent in vain... | Covenant curse: Earth's barrenness as punishment. |
| Deut 28:18-20 | Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock... | Covenant curse: Agricultural and familial barrenness. |
| Isa 5:6 | I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. | God's vineyard judgment: Desolation and lack of fruit. |
| Isa 17:10-11 | For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge... | Forgetting God leads to withered planting and no harvest. |
| Hos 2:9-12 | Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax... | God withdraws agricultural provisions due to idolatry. |
| Hos 9:16 | Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will put to death the cherished offspring of their womb. | Spiritual barrenness and no fruit, extending to life itself. |
| Joel 1:7, 12 | He has laid waste my vines and splintered my fig trees... The vine dries up; the fig tree droops... | Locust plague causing total agricultural destruction, a form of judgment. |
| Amos 4:9 | "I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured... | God's repeated agricultural judgments for disobedience. |
| Hag 1:11 | Then I called for a drought on the land and on the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil... | God withdraws blessings, resulting in scarcity due to neglect of His house. |
| Matt 21:19 | And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves... "May no fruit ever come from you again!" | Jesus curses the fig tree, symbolizing unfruitful Israel. |
| Mark 11:13-14 | And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves... "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." | Similar to Matthew, Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree. |
| Luke 13:6-9 | And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none... cut it down." | Parable of the barren fig tree illustrating impending judgment for unfruitfulness. |
| John 15:2, 6 | Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away... If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers... | Abiding in Christ essential for bearing fruit; unproductivity leads to removal. |
| Rom 1:24 | Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves... | God "giving up" a people to their sinful ways, removing His restraining hand. |
| Gal 5:22-23 | But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... | Contrast: The positive fruit of righteous living. |
| Phil 3:19 | Their end is destruction, their god is their stomach, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. | The consequence of those focused on worldly rather than spiritual fruit. |
| Col 1:10 | so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; | The purpose of walking worthy: bearing good fruit in actions. |
| Jude 1:12 | These are hidden reefs at your love feasts... autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted... | False teachers described as barren, uprooted trees, symbolizing spiritual uselessness. |
| Rev 6:13 | as a fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a mighty wind... | Apocalyptic imagery of devastation and loss. |
| Psa 1:3 | He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither... | Blessing for the righteous: steadfast fruitfulness. |
| Psa 80:15-16 | the stock that your right hand planted, and the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down... | Israel as a vine, broken and burned by God's judgment. |
| Jer 5:17 | They shall eat up your harvest and your food... they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees... | Earlier prophecy in Jeremiah of foreign invaders destroying sustenance. |
Jeremiah 8 verses
Jeremiah 8 13 Meaning
Jeremiah 8:13 declares the Lord's absolute judgment upon Judah due to their profound unfaithfulness. Using the vivid imagery of a completely barren landscape – a vine with no grapes, a fig tree bearing no figs, and even the leaves withering – the verse signifies a total withdrawal of all natural sustenance, prosperity, and blessings previously bestowed by God. It signifies a comprehensive desolation, where the very foundations of life and joy, promised by the covenant, are systematically removed, mirroring their spiritual barrenness.
Jeremiah 8 13 Context
Jeremiah chapter 8 continues the prophet's scathing indictment of Judah and Jerusalem for their persistent and unrepentant apostasy. The immediate preceding verses highlight their stubborn refusal to return to God, their embrace of idolatry, their reliance on false prophets, and their belief in a superficial peace despite deep spiritual corruption. They have rejected the law of the LORD (Jer 8:8), have a "lying tongue" (Jer 8:10), and their "heart is perverse" (Jer 8:11). The chapter contrasts their blind refusal to acknowledge judgment with the certainty of its arrival, using the vivid image of swift destruction, likened to horses rushing into battle (Jer 8:6).
Historically, this period (late 7th-early 6th century BCE) saw Judah caught between the rising power of Babylon and the waning influence of Egypt. Despite warnings from prophets like Jeremiah, the people of Judah continued their idolatrous practices, breaking the covenant God made with them. Prosperity from agriculture (grapes and figs being primary crops) was seen as a direct blessing from God, intrinsically linked to their obedience. Therefore, the removal of this blessing, as declared in verse 13, directly signifies God's punitive withdrawal of covenant favor and sustenance in response to their profound rebellion, as prophesied throughout Deuteronomy's blessings and curses. The imagery here also carries a subtle polemic against pagan fertility cults (e.g., Baal worship), which promised good harvests. Jeremiah unequivocally asserts that Yahweh alone controls the fruitfulness of the land, and He is now withholding it as judgment.
Jeremiah 8 13 Word analysis
אֹסֵף אֹסְפֵם (
'osef 'osfem): "I will surely consume them" / "I will utterly gather them."- This is an intensive form (infinitive absolute preceding the finite verb), emphasizing the certainty, totality, and thoroughness of the action. It implies a complete and devastating removal.
- While often translated "consume" or "make an end of," the root (
'āsaf) primarily means "to gather," "collect," or "remove." This suggests God is gathering them away entirely, leaving nothing, perhaps in a perverse "harvest" of judgment, where the people themselves are reaped for destruction rather than fruit for blessing. - It points to God's active and deliberate role in orchestrating this judgment.
נְאֻם יְהוָה (
ne'um Yahweh): "declares the LORD."- A standard prophetic formula, asserting divine authority and guaranteeing the truth and certainty of the preceding and subsequent statement. It underlines that this is not Jeremiah's opinion but God's unalterable decree.
אֵין עֲנָבִים בַּגֶּפֶן (
'ên ‘anāvîm bag-gefen): "no grapes on the vine."'ên: "no" or "none." Establishes a definitive absence.‘anāvîm: "grapes." A staple fruit in ancient Israel, symbolizing prosperity, joy, and covenant blessing (e.g., Deut 8:8).g̱afen: "vine." Represents the source of the grapes and Israel itself, often depicted as God's vineyard (e.g., Isa 5:7).- The absence signifies a fundamental failure in natural productivity, which in a covenantal context, signals divine displeasure and curse.
וְאֵין תְּאֵנִים בַּתְּאֵנָה (
wə'ên tē'enîm bat-tə'ēnāh): "nor figs on the fig tree."wə'ên: "and no." Reinforces the preceding negative statement.tə'enîm: "figs." Another primary staple, symbolic of abundance and peace (1 Kgs 4:25, Mic 4:4).tə'ēnāh: "fig tree."- This dual imagery of barren vine and fig tree presents a complete picture of agricultural failure, removing the primary sources of food, wine, and sweetness from their lives. It intensifies the message of total loss.
וְהֶעָלֶה נָבֵל (
wəhe'āleh nāvēl): "and the leaf shall wither."wəhe'āleh: "and the leaf."nāvēl: "to wither," "fade," "fall."- This extends the desolation beyond the fruit to the very life source of the plant. A withered leaf indicates death, loss of vitality, and utter decay. It moves from barrenness to lifelessness.
וַאֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם יַעֲבֹרֵם (
wa'ăšer nāṯattî lāhem ya‘avōrem): "and what I have given them shall pass away from them."wa'ăšer nāṯattî lāhem: "and what I (have) given them." Explicitly connects the blessings and provisions to God as the source.ya‘avōrem: "it shall pass away from them" / "it shall depart from them." The root (‘āvar) means "to pass over," "pass away," "cross over." Here, it signifies the removal, cessation, or going away of these gifts.- This concluding phrase clearly states the spiritual meaning of the agricultural metaphors: God is withdrawing all the blessings and provisions He had previously bestowed, including life itself and their land, making the judgment complete and absolute. It underscores that all they possessed was a gift from Him.
Jeremiah 8 13 Bonus section
- The structure of the judgment – from specific fruits to the entire leaf, then to a general withdrawal of all given things – indicates an escalating and all-encompassing curse, leaving nothing untouched.
- This verse represents a stark reversal of the promised covenant blessings of fruitfulness (Lev 26:3-5; Deut 28:3-5), transforming them into curses (Lev 26:20; Deut 28:18, 30-34).
- The phrase "I will surely consume them" (or "utterly gather them") could also evoke the imagery of a reversed harvest: instead of God harvesting good fruit, He is harvesting (gathering) a people for destruction because of their corruption.
- The New Testament uses the metaphor of barren trees for spiritual unfruitfulness and impending judgment, echoing Jeremiah's imagery (e.g., Jesus cursing the fig tree, the parable of the barren fig tree, and branches cut off for not bearing fruit in John 15).
Jeremiah 8 13 Commentary
Jeremiah 8:13 encapsulates God's ultimate verdict on Judah's deep-seated and unyielding rebellion. Through a powerful tripartite agricultural curse – no grapes, no figs, and withered leaves – the Lord pronounces an all-encompassing judgment. This is not a random natural disaster but a divine, deliberate act (declared by the LORD), to systematically strip away all sources of sustenance, joy, and prosperity. The imagery directly counters their perceived security and any hope they might place in false gods of fertility. It conveys that because they have spiritually failed to produce fruit for God, He will now ensure they physically produce no fruit for themselves, ultimately withdrawing His covenant blessings entirely. Their external world will mirror their internal spiritual barrenness. The "gathering" of them could imply not a gentle harvest, but a collection for removal and destruction, underscoring the completeness of the judgment where even what God "gave them shall pass away from them," signifying a complete unraveling of their existence as a blessed nation.