Jeremiah 18:17 · Bible study
Jeremiah 18:17 Commentary: The Hidden Face and the East Wind
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
In Jeremiah 18:17, God's judgment is depicted as an east wind scattering Israel, divine face turned away.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God announces that He will scatter His people like chaff before a scorching east wind and will deliberately turn His back on them in the day of their disaster, as the ultimate covenant curse for hardened rebellion.
- Key words: קָדִים (qadim, east wind), a violent sirocco; עֹרֶף (oreph, back/neck), symbol of rejection; פָּנִים (panim, face), idiom for divine favour and presence.
- Main debate: Whether the “back, not the face” describes a final and irreversible withdrawal of mercy (Calvin, Gill) or a severe judgment that remains within a covenant framework that still calls for repentance (Matthew Henry, Keil).
- Theological theme: Divine judgment as the natural consequence of persistently rejecting God’s face; the justice of God mirroring the sin of the people.
- Best use: Preaching on the seriousness of sin, the reality of God’s judgment, and the urgency of responding to God’s call while there is still time; also a warning against presuming on God’s patience.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
KJV King James Version 1769
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
As an east wind I scatter them before an enemy, The neck, and not the face, I shew them, In the day of their calamity.'
Darby Darby Bible 1890
As with an east wind will I scatter them before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Como viento solano los esparciré delante del enemigo; mostraréles las espaldas, y no el rostro, en el día de su perdición.
Tal como vento oriental, eu os espalharei diante do inimigo; eu lhes mostrarei as costas, e não o rosto, no dia de sua perdição.
Pareil au vent d’ orient, je les disperserai devant l’ennemi;
Denn ich will sie wie durch einen Ostwind zerstreuen vor ihren Feinden; ich will ihnen den Rücken, und nicht das Antlitz zeigen, wenn sie verderben.
Als een oostenwind zal Ik hen verstrooien voor het aangezicht des vijands; Ik zal hun den nek en niet het aangezicht laten zien, ten dage huns verderfs.
Io li disperderò dinanzi al nemico, come fa il vento orientale; io volterò loro le spalle e non la faccia nel giorno della loro calamità.
Wiatrem wschodnim rozproszę ich przed nieprzyjacielem; tył a nie twarz ukażę im w dzień zatracenia ich.
Как восточным ветром развею их пред лицем врага; спиною, а не лицем обращусь к ним в день бедствия их.
我必在仇敵 面前 分散他們，好像用東 風吹散一樣。遭難 的日子，我必以背 向他們，不 以面向他們。
I will send them in flight, as from an east wind, before the attacker; I will let them see my back and not my face on the day of their downfall.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 18:17
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree this verse announces a severe judgment, the climax of God's response to Judah's stubborn rebellion. The east wind (קָדִים, qadim) is not a ordinary breeze; it is the scorching sirocco that blasts crops and drives everything before it. Calvin calls it a whirlwind, noting that God would use enemies to scatter the Jews with terror and irresistible force. Gill adds that the east wind drives chaff and stubble, this pictures the ease with which God would disperse His people. But the harshest image is the second half: God shows them “the back, and not the face.” As Barnes explains, the hiding of God's face is the sure sign of His displeasure (cf. Isa 1:15; 59:2). The Cambridge Bible connects this to the people's own behavior: they had turned their back to God (Jer 2:27), and now God turns His back to them. Calvin stresses that this punishment comes without the prospect of pardon or alleviation, a decree not to pardon them in that day. Yet Matthew Henry reads the entire passage as still embedded in God's call to repentance (v.11), so the threat functions as a last warning. The consensus holds: God's judgment is real, severe, and directly proportionate to the people's sustained rejection of His face.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Permanent withdrawal of mercy: Calvin and Gill argue that God 'will show them the back' with no prospect of pardon; the context shows that the people had already declared 'no hope' (v.12) and were beyond repentance.
- Covenant curse with implicit hope: Matthew Henry and Keil read the verse within the larger passage (vv.11–17) where God still commands the prophet to speak, indicating that even this severe threat is part of a call that could lead to repentance.
- Poetic justice / mirror of sin: The Cambridge Bible and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown highlight the retributive thread: as the people showed God their back (Jer 2:27), God shows them His back. The judgment is exactly proportionate to the sin.
What is clear: God's judgment is severe, real, and depicted as the deliberate withdrawal of His favourable presence in response to persistent, willful rebellion.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| "Back, not the face" imagery | All traditions agree it signifies God's active withdrawal of favour, protection, and mercy in response to the people's rebellion. It mirrors their own turning away from God. | Some Reformed commentators (Calvin, Gill) view this as a decree of no pardon, final and without remedy. Others (Matthew Henry, Keil) see it as a covenantal curse still embedded in a wider call to repentance, leaving room for a change if the people had repented. |
| The east wind as divine weapon | Commentators agree that the east wind symbolizes God's irresistible judgment, violent, destructive, and thorough. The scattering image echoes the covenant curses of Deuteronomy. | There is minor disagreement on whether the Hebrew preposition is bet ("with") or kaf ("as"). A few manuscripts read "with an east wind" (instrumental), while most versions read "as an east wind" (comparative). The practical meaning is nearly identical: God uses a force like a terrible wind to scatter them. |
| Permanence vs. warning function | All agree that this verse describes a real, severe judgment that came historically through the Babylonian exile. It shows the devastating consequences of persistent rebellion. | Some churches interpret this as a type of God's final judgment on the unrepentant, emphasizing the day of calamity as irreversible. Others read it as a historical warning within the covenant that still allowed for individual repentance even as national judgment fell. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Jeremiah 18:17 sits within a larger unit (vv. 11, 17) that applies the potter's house parable to Judah. The potter's freedom to reshape the clay (vv. 1, 10) had established God's sovereign right to change His plans, both to judge and to relent. Now the prophet drives that home: God is “framing evil” (v. 11) against a people who have answered His call to repentance with, “There is no hope! We will follow our own devices” (v. 12). The surrounding verses (13, 16) accuse Israel of an unnatural apostasy, even the snow of Lebanon and the cold streams are more reliable than God's people have been. In that context v. 17 lands like a hammer.
The east wind (קָדִים) was notorious in the ancient Near East. It blew in from the desert, hot and violent, withering vegetation (Gen 41:6), shattering ships (Ps 48:7) and sweeping away the wicked (Job 27:21). The verb “scatter” (Hiphil of פוץ) echoes the covenant curses of Deuteronomy: Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples (Deut 28:64). Being scattered “before the enemy” meant defeat without refuge, no wall, no ally, no escape.
The second image, God showing “the back, not the face”, draws on a deeply relational idiom in the ancient world. A monarch’s face meant favour, audience, protection; a turned back meant dismissal. In the tabernacle and temple, God’s face (פָּנִים) was associated with blessing and presence (Num 6:24, 26). To hide the face was to withdraw covenant protection (Deut 31:17). Judah had literally turned their back to God in worship of idols (Jer 2:27). Now, in a stroke of justice that matches the crime, God does the same to them. The “day of their calamity” (אֵיד) is the time of national collapse, the Babylonian invasion, when all hope of divine rescue would appear cut off.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note a minor textual variation in the first clause. Calvin mentions that “many copies read ב (beth, ‘with’),” while all the ancient versions (Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac) retain the comparative כ (kaph, ‘as’). The difference between “I will scatter them with an east wind” and “I will scatter them as an east wind” is slight in meaning, either way, the wind represents an instrument or force of judgment. The translators of the WEB supply the phrase “as with an east wind,” blending both senses. No other significant variants are reported in the consulted sources.
Reception History
Jeremiah 18:17 has been read across Jewish and Christian traditions as a solemn warning against covenant unfaithfulness. In medieval Jewish exegesis, the turning of God’s face was understood as hester panim (“hiding of the face”), a concept that explains national suffering as divine withdrawal consequent on sin. Christian interpreters like Calvin and Gill used the verse to emphasise the finality of judgment against hardened sinners, while the Geneva Bible’s marginal note simply let the text speak for itself. In the Anglican tradition, the Cambridge Bible connected the imagery to the people’s own perversity, showing God’s judgment as just retribution. The verse has also been cited in hymns of lament, particularly those reflecting on exile or divine absence. Modern pastoral application often holds the verse as a caution against treating God’s patience as weakness, while still pointing to earlier calls to repentance (v. 11) as the context that gives the warning its force.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The East Wind of Judgment. God uses forces of nature, here a scorching wind, as an image of His irresistible power to scatter. He is not passive; He actively disperses His people before the enemy. The wind is relentless, hot, and devastating. For those who have rejected the gentle call to repentance, only the blast of judgment remains.
- The Turned Back. Showing “the back, not the face” is the ultimate relational fracture. It is what the people chose first, they turned away from God to idols. Now God mirrors their decision. Divine presence becomes divine absence, not as a passive withdrawal but as a deliberate act of judgment.
- The Day of Calamity. This phrase echoes Deuteronomy 32:35 (“the day of their calamity is at hand”). It is a specific historical moment, the Babylonian siege, but also a pattern. Every generation faces a choice: turn while the day of calamity is still future, or face God as an adversary.
Five-point outline
- The context: God’s call to repentance (vv. 11, 12) is rejected with “no hope.”
- The accusation: Israel has done an unheard-of, unnatural thing, forgotten the reliable God for empty idols (vv. 13, 15).
- The consequence: Scattering like chaff before an east wind (v. 17a).
- The reversal: God shows the back, not the face, exactly what the people showed Him (v. 17b).
- The timing: The day of calamity, the moment when judgment is no longer threat but reality.
Illustration hooks
- The sirocco wind that sweeps across the desert: oppressive, inescapable, carrying dust and heat for days. Everyone who has lived through one knows the feeling of being trapped by a force beyond control.
- A parent who has warned a child repeatedly finally turns away, not from anger but from the exhaustion of a love that keeps being refused. The child experiences not just discipline but the chilling absence of relationship.
- When a friendship ends because one person continually refused to listen, the final silence is more painful than any argument. That silence is what God’s “back, not the face” conveys.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this mean God stops loving people permanently?
- How do we know when a judgment is final or still a warning?
- What does it feel like to have God show you His back? Can a Christian experience that?
Leading a Discussion
Jeremiah 18:17 comes at the end of a passage where God pleads with Judah, but they refuse to change. The verses land like a dark cloud: God will scatter them like chaff and turn His back on them in their day of disaster. This is hard Scripture, it shows the severe side of God’s justice. But notice: even this announcement is part of God’s speech to the prophet, meant to be delivered to the people. It is not a silent verdict; it is a warning spoken aloud. That gives us a starting point for discussion.
Discussion questions
- Read Jeremiah 18:11, 12 first. How would you describe the people’s attitude toward God’s warning? What does “no hope” mean in their reply?
- In verse 13, God says Israel has done “a very horrible thing” that even other nations haven’t done. Why does the comparison with the heathen make the charge even more serious?
- Look at the imagery in verse 17: “east wind,” “back, not the face.” How would these images have sounded to an original audience familiar with the covenant curses of Deuteronomy?
- Why does God show them “the back” rather than the face? How does this relate to their own actions in Jeremiah 2:27 (also referenced in the commentary)?
- Is this verse describing a permanent withdrawal of mercy, or is it a warning within a covenant that still offers hope? What in the passage, or in its context, supports each view?
- How does this passage challenge our assumptions about God’s patience? What does it tell us about the seriousness of persistent rebellion?
- Can a person today experience the “back, not the face” of God? If so, what does that look like, and what hope is there for restoration?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Deuteronomy 28:25 | Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. |
| Deuteronomy 28:64 | Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone. |
| Deuteronomy 31:17 | Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’ |
| Deuteronomy 32:35 | Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.” |
| Judges 10:13 | Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. |
| Judges 10:14 | Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!” |
| Job 27:21 | The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. |
| Psalms 48:7 | With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke draws attention to the specific destructive effects of the east wind, which blasts grain and trees and even harms animals and people. This natural phenomenon, captured in an old proverb, becomes the image for God's act of scattering judgment.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes explains that God showing His back rather than His face is a clear indicator of divine displeasure. He draws on passages where God hides His face as a sign of judgment, making this image one of rejection rather than blessing.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The east wind here pictures the sirocco, a sudden scorching wind from the desert. The people turned their back on God in worship, and now He will show them the back instead of the face. Their own behavior toward Him becomes the pattern for His response.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The note highlights two specific signs of divine judgment: God will use an east wind to drive the people before their enemy, and He will turn His back on them, refusing to show them His face. This imagery portrays utter abandonment and the withdrawal of God's protective presence on the day of destruction.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that the east wind represents a strong, relentless force that easily scatters chaff, showing how God would utterly disperse the Jews before their enemies with irresistible power. He adds that God would turn His back on them in that day of calamity, refusing to show pity, hear their cries, or give any relief.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB emphasizes the violent force of the east wind as the image for God's scattering of His people. The retribution is exact: because they turned their back on God and not their face, He will show them His back and not His face in judgment.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch argues that the snow of Lebanon and its trickling streams never fail, a fact of nature that underscores how unnatural Israel's rebellion is. The people have forgotten God, while even the most remote natural sources remain constant. This contrast highlights their willful obstinacy.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry sees God's judgment against Judah as deliberate and purposeful, like a potter shaping a vessel to a specific end. Their sin has earned ruin, and God is actively working toward that ruin, so they cannot miss both the justice and the design in what is coming.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley highlights that the east wind was known as the fiercest wind in that region, making it a fitting image for God's scattering judgment. He adds that when the people face their greatest calamity, God will turn away and refuse to hear their prayers.