Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Jeremiah 48:10 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 10. 10Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The violent curse belongs to the Moab oracle and cannot become a human mandate to wield the sword.
Read It With
- Jeremiah 48:1–10
Read Jeremiah 48:10 with 48:1–10. By itself, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, imperial horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: A dense place-name sequence announces ruined strongholds, flight, trust in wealth, exile of the deity, and a curse on withholding the destroyer's work.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This received unit develops “Moab's Cities and Chemosh Face Defeat” through its own speaker, addressee, date, oracle, sign, lament, or historical scene. Its non-interchangeable movement is: A dense place-name sequence announces ruined strongholds, flight, trust in wealth, exile of the deity, and a curse on withholding the destroyer's work. This verse's placement is specific: The violent curse belongs to the Moab oracle and cannot become a human mandate to wield the sword.
Follow the Context
- The unit begins at 48:1 with the speech, scene, image, or date named in its title.
- A dense place-name sequence announces ruined strongholds, flight, trust in wealth, exile of the deity, and a curse on withholding the destroyer's work.
- At 48:10 the movement reaches its response or transition before the next unit.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The curse on withholding the sword is not a command for Christians, Jews, or nations to carry out violence.
What Remains True
It is part of an ancient totalizing oracle against Moab whose human cost the chapter also laments. In Jeremiah 48:10, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The violent curse belongs to the Moab oracle and cannot become a human mandate to wield the sword.
How It Can Shape Life
- Reject human imitation and read the whole lamenting oracle. This verse directs that response through its exact role: The violent curse belongs to the Moab oracle and cannot become a human mandate to wield the sword.
Teach It Back
Explain Jeremiah 48:10's precise role in Jeremiah 48:1–10: The violent curse belongs to the Moab oracle and cannot become a human mandate to wield the sword. State how “Moab's Cities and Chemosh Face Defeat” controls the line, keep this uncertainty visible—The curse is not a command for present violence, and ancient Moab must not become a label for modern Jordanians or other peoples.—trace role to contextual meaning to enduring truth to application, and reject one use the verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Jeremiah 48:1–10 — Moab's Cities and Chemosh Face DefeatSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Jeremiah 48:1–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2; fixed commit
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 48:1–10
Open the fixed Hebrew Jeremiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jeremiah with Translator, Textual, and Study Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; official eBible PDF distribution, NET Bible Second Edition; official PDF accessed 2026
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 48:1–10
Open the official NET Jeremiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Jeremiah: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Themes, and Bible in the World
Terence E. Fretheim and Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current public course accessed 2026
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Outline and Themes: oracles against nations, Babylon, and historical appendix; applied to Jeremiah 48:1–10
Open the Enter the Bible Jeremiah course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jeremiah Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 3 study guide, pp. 1-6: Jeremiah 36, Baruch, scroll rewriting, composition, and final form; applied to Jeremiah 48:1–10
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗