Jeremiah 21:3 meaning summary explained with word-by-word analysis enriched with context, commentary and Cross References from KJV, NIV, ESV and NLT.
Jeremiah 21:3 kjv
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Jeremiah 21:3 nkjv
Then Jeremiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,
Jeremiah 21:3 niv
But Jeremiah answered them, "Tell Zedekiah,
Jeremiah 21:3 esv
Then Jeremiah said to them: "Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,
Jeremiah 21:3 nlt
Jeremiah replied, "Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him,
Jeremiah 21 3 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 18:18 | I will raise up for them a prophet...and I will put my words in his mouth. | God's promise to put words in a prophet's mouth. |
| Isa 55:11 | So shall my word be...it shall accomplish that which I purpose. | The efficacy and divine purpose of God's word. |
| Ezek 2:7 | And you shall speak my words to them... | Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, commanded to speak God's word. |
| 1 Sam 15:10-11 | The word of the Lord came to Samuel, "I regret that I have made Saul king." | God speaking judgment to a king through a prophet. |
| 2 Chr 36:15-16 | The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers... they scoffed at God's messengers. | God's repeated sending of prophets to rulers. |
| Jer 1:7-10 | "Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all to whom I send you, you shall go..." | Jeremiah's prophetic commission to deliver God's word. |
| Amos 3:7 | For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. | God reveals His plans through His prophets. |
| Num 23:19 | God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. | The unchanging nature of God's word and prophecies. |
| Zech 7:11-13 | But they refused to pay attention... and would not hear. | Consequences of rejecting God's word through prophets. |
| Jer 37:1-2 | King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim... he did not listen to the words of the Lord. | Zedekiah's consistent refusal to heed prophetic word. |
| Jer 26:15 | "Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood..." | Warning against harming a true prophet of God. |
| Isa 7:3-4 | Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz... and say to him..." | God instructing a prophet to deliver a specific message to a king. |
| 2 Tim 3:16-17 | All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching... | The divine origin and authority of prophetic words, later written. |
| Heb 1:1-2 | Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. | God's communication through prophets in the past. |
| Lk 10:16 | "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me..." | Jesus affirms the authority of His messengers. |
| Mal 3:6 | "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." | God's immutability underlies the truth of His prophetic word. |
| Heb 4:7 | Again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward... | Emphasizes the urgency of heeding God's word. |
| Jer 23:28-32 | "Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully." | Distinguishing true prophets delivering God's word from false ones. |
| Jer 38:4-5 | Then the officials said to the king, "Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening..." | Jeremiah's opposition for delivering an unwelcome message. |
| Acts 7:51-52 | "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" | The consistent rejection of God's messengers throughout history. |
| 2 Pet 1:20-21 | no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. | The divine inspiration and origin of prophetic messages. |
| Tit 1:3 | but has now revealed his word through the preaching entrusted to me. | The New Testament equivalent of a divine message being delivered through a chosen vessel. |
| Jas 1:22 | But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. | The requirement to act upon God's delivered word. |
Jeremiah 21 verses
Jeremiah 21 3 meaning
Jeremiah 21:3 establishes Jeremiah as the Lord's authoritative mouthpiece in response to King Zedekiah's inquiry. Through the king's envoys, Jeremiah is commanded by God to relay a specific divine message back to Zedekiah. This phrase sets the stage for a pronouncement that is not Jeremiah's personal counsel but a direct, divinely-revealed word intended for the king, concerning the impending Babylonian threat.
Jeremiah 21 3 Context
Jeremiah 21 opens during a critical juncture in Judah's history, around 589-588 BC, as the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar is laying siege to Jerusalem. King Zedekiah, despite having sworn allegiance to Babylon and then rebelling, finds himself in desperate circumstances. He sends two envoys, Pashhur and Zephaniah (verse 1-2), to Jeremiah with a specific request: "Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar... is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and make him withdraw from us." Zedekiah, deeply superstitious and hoping for a miraculous intervention similar to what God had done in the past (e.g., deliverance from the Assyrians under Sennacherib), seeks a divine oracle from the prophet. Jeremiah 21:3 is Jeremiah's immediate, precursory response, a foundational statement asserting that the ensuing message is not his own, but a direct commandment from God, challenging Zedekiah's false hopes with divine reality.
Jeremiah 21 3 Word analysis
Then: This temporal conjunction immediately links back to the preceding verses (21:1-2), indicating Jeremiah's response to the envoys' request. It highlights the sequence of events during a crucial period of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
said Jeremiah: In Hebrew, va-yomer Yirmeyahu (וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יִרְמְיָ֙הוּ֙). This phrase marks the prophet's agency as the conveyor of divine information. It implies a prophetic declaration, not a personal opinion. Jeremiah is speaking not of his own accord, but as commissioned by God.
unto them: Refers to Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the priest, who were sent by King Zedekiah. They serve as intermediaries, signifying that the message is for the king but is delivered through designated representatives.
Thus: The Hebrew word Koh (כֹּֽה), is a standard, solemn prophetic formula, almost universally translated as "Thus says the LORD" (or similar phrasing in full context, like Jer 21:4). Its placement here unequivocally states that the message originates directly from God. It introduces a divine oracle, setting it apart from human words or opinions, indicating ultimate authority.
shall ye say: This is an imperative command directed to the envoys. It stresses their active role as carriers of the divine message. It implies accuracy in transmission and urgency, leaving no room for altering or diluting the word before it reaches the king.
to Zedekiah: The direct target of the divine message. Highlighting Zedekiah indicates his ultimate responsibility to hear and respond to God's word, as well as his position as the nation's leader whose decisions directly impact Judah's fate. The Lord is specifically addressing the reigning monarch through His prophet.
Then said Jeremiah unto them: This phrase signifies the prophet's immediate obedience to the divine mandate and the formal communication channel. Jeremiah receives a direct word from God and immediately transmits it through the king's official representatives. This establishes the authority and urgency of the message that follows.
Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: This entire phrase serves as a command for the royal envoys to act as faithful couriers of an absolute divine declaration. It underscores that the message's content is immutable and solely sourced from the Lord. It primes the recipient, Zedekiah, to receive an unadulterated divine oracle, whether favorable or not.
Jeremiah 21 3 Bonus section
- The structure of prophetic address in Jer 21:3 (prophet name, addressee, formula 'thus', followed by direct quote from God) is common in Jeremiah, emphasizing that the human speaker is merely a conduit for the divine word.
- Zedekiah's seeking a word from Jeremiah here, despite his consistent failure to heed earlier warnings (e.g., Jer 37:2; 2 Chr 36:12), illustrates a pattern of desperate consultation with God's prophet only when facing imminent destruction, rather than in humble repentance. This shows a "fair-weather" or crisis-driven religiosity.
- This specific introduction also implies the seriousness of what follows: a direct divine answer that would either confirm a king's trust or condemn his rebellion. Given Zedekiah's prior actions and God's consistent message through Jeremiah, this prelude hints that the forthcoming word will likely be one of judgment, contrasting with the "wonderful deeds" Zedekiah optimistically alluded to.
Jeremiah 21 3 Commentary
Jeremiah 21:3 is pivotal as it formalizes the channel of divine communication during a national crisis. King Zedekiah seeks a prophetic word, hoping for a miracle, yet the very first utterance from Jeremiah establishes the Lord's absolute sovereignty over the coming message. The command "Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah" bypasses any personal interpretation or human opinion from Jeremiah, marking the words that follow as direct speech from God Himself. This underscores the essence of true prophecy in ancient Israel: it is not the prophet's words, but God's through the prophet. It also prepares Zedekiah to hear a divine judgment rather than the miraculous deliverance he longed for, setting a confrontation between human hope and divine will. This brief statement highlights the responsibility of the messenger to deliver the word faithfully and the grave importance for the recipient, the king, to listen to what is undeniably the voice of the Lord, despite its potential to be uncomfortable or contradictory to his desires.