Jeremiah Chapter 17 verse 6 Holy Bible
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
read chapter 17 in ASV
For he will be like the brushwood in the upland, and will not see when good comes; but his living-place will be in the dry places in the waste land, in a salt and unpeopled land.
read chapter 17 in BBE
And he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
read chapter 17 in DARBY
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
read chapter 17 in KJV
read chapter 17 in WBT
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
read chapter 17 in WEB
And he hath been as a naked thing in a desert, And doth not see when good cometh, And hath inhabited parched places in a wilderness, A salt land, and not inhabited.
read chapter 17 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - Like the heath in the desert; as forlorn as some well-known desert plant. But which plant? St. Jerome explains, "Et erit quasi myrice ['tamarisk'], quae Hebraice dicitur Aroer (?) sire, at interpretatus est Syrus, lignum infructuosum." The versions agree in supposing the comparison to be to a plant; and a very similar word in Arabic (ghargar) means the mountain juniper; Tristram, the dwarf juniper. Most, however, take the word to be an adjective equivalent to "destitute." Dr. Thomson tells a story of a poor destitute woman he found in the desert (comp. Jeremiah 48:6 - the form there is Aroer, here it is 'ar'ar; Psalm 102:18). Shall not see; i.e. shall not perceive, or feel any evil consequences (comp. Isaiah 44:16, "I have seen the fire," equivalent to "feel the flame"). A salt land; i.e. one entirely barren (comp. Deuteronomy 29:23).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) Like the heath in the desert.--The word rendered heath is, literally, bare or naked, and as such is translated by "destitute" in Psalm 102:17. That meaning has accordingly been given to it here by some recent commentators. No picture of desolation could be more complete than that of a man utterly destitute, yet inhabiting the "parched places of the wilderness." All the older versions, however, including the Targum, and some of the best modern (e.g. Ewald), take the word as describing the "heath" or other like shrubs standing alone in a barren land. A like word with the same meaning is found in Jeremiah 48:6, and stands in Arabic for the "juniper." Both views are tenable, but the latter, as being a bolder similitude, and balancing the comparison to a "tree planted by the waters" in Jeremiah 17:8, is more after the manner of a poet-prophet. There is something weak in saying "A man shall be like a destitute man." The word rendered "desert" (arabah) is applied specially to the Jordan valley (sometimes, indeed, to its more fertile parts), and its connection here with the "salt land" points to the wild, barren land of the Jordan as it flows into the Dead Sea (Deuteronomy 29:23).Shall not see when good cometh.--The words describe the yearning that has been so often disappointed that at last, when the brighter day dawns, it is blind to the signs of its approach. It comes too late, as rain falls too late on the dead or withered heath.
