Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

JEREMIAH 18:22KJV
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Jeremiah 18:22 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 18:22 mean?

Jeremiah 18:22 records Jeremiah asking God to bring a sudden attack on people who have plotted against him. Jeremiah gives a reason for his request: they have tried to capture him by secret means.

Jeremiah pictures his enemies as hunters who dig a pit and hide traps along an animal’s path. After asking for judgment in verse 21, Jeremiah describes the cries that would come from their homes when an armed band arrives.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 18:22

  • “troop” — גְּדוּד (gedud): This word can refer to a band of raiders or armed men. It gives a concrete picture of the sudden attack Jeremiah describes.
  • “snares” — פַּח (paḥ): This word refers to a trap used to catch an animal. Here it adds to the picture of a danger concealed from its intended victim.

Why Jeremiah 18:22 matters

  • Jeremiah’s words are a request addressed to God, not a report that the attack has happened. The phrase “when thou shalt bring” belongs to that appeal.
  • Jeremiah sees the plot as personal. The words “to take me” and “for my feet” describe him as the intended target.
  • The surrounding passage identifies the people behind the plot as opponents of Jeremiah’s message. In verse 18, they say, “let us devise devices against Jeremiah,” and propose attacking him with their words.

Where else these words appear

“pit” Hebrew H7882 · used in 3 verses

  • Psalms 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
  • Psalms 119:85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

“pit” Hebrew H7745 · used in 5 verses

  • Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
  • Proverbs 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
  • Jeremiah 2:6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

“digged” Hebrew H3738 · used in 16 verses

  • Genesis 26:25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
  • Job 6:27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
  • Psalms 94:13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

“cry” Hebrew H2201 · used in 18 verses

  • Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
  • Job 16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
  • Jeremiah 20:16 And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;