Jeremiah 1:18

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַאֲנִ֞י הִנֵּ֧ה נְתַתִּ֣יךָ הַיּ֗וֹם לְעִ֨יר מִבְצָ֜ר וּלְעַמּ֥וּד בַּרְזֶ֛ל וּלְחֹמ֥וֹת נְחֹ֖שֶׁת עַל־כָּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ לְמַלְכֵ֤י יְהוּדָה֙ לְשָׂרֶ֔יהָ לְכֹהֲנֶ֖יהָ וּלְעַ֥ם הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Transliteration

And-ʾănî hinnēh nĕtattîkā ha-yôm to-ʿîr mibṣār and-to-ʿammûd barzel and-to-ḥōmôt nĕḥōšet upon-all-hā-ʾāreṣ to-malkê Yĕhûdāh to-śārêhā to-kōhănêhā and-to-ʿam hā-ʾāreṣ

Grammar Details

• *ʾănî*: 1st person singular independent pronoun - I
• *hinnēh*: demonstrative particle - behold
• *nĕtattîkā*: Qal perfect 1st singular with 2nd masculine singular suffix - I have made you
• *ha-yôm*: definite article + singular noun - the day
• *ʿîr*: singular noun construct - city of
• *mibṣār*: singular noun - fortress
• *ʿammûd*: singular noun construct - pillar of
• *barzel*: singular noun - iron
• *ḥōmôt*: plural noun construct - walls of
• *nĕḥōšet*: singular noun - bronze
• *hā-ʾāreṣ*: definite article + feminine singular noun - the land
• *malkê*: plural noun construct - kings of
• *Yĕhûdāh*: proper name - Judah
• *śārêhā*: plural noun with 3rd feminine singular suffix - her officials
• *kōhănêhā*: plural noun with 3rd feminine singular suffix - her priests
• *ʿam*: singular noun construct - people of

Word Meanings

• *ʿîr* *mibṣār*: fortified city/fortress city/stronghold
• *ʿammûd* *barzel*: iron pillar/iron column
• *ḥōmôt* *nĕḥōšet*: bronze walls/bronze fortifications
• *ʿam* *hā-ʾāreṣ*: people of the land/common people/local population

Other Translations

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

• KJV1611 – Modern English

  For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

• King James Version 1611 (Original)

  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  For, behold, I{H589} have made{H5414} thee this day{H3117} a fortified{H4013} city,{H5892} and an iron{H1270} pillar,{H5982} and brazen{H5178} walls,{H2346} against the whole land,{H776} against the kings{H4428} of Judah,{H3063} against the princes{H8269} thereof, against the priests{H3548} thereof, and against the people{H5971} of the land.{H776}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  For, behold, I{H589} have made{H5414}{(H8804)} thee this day{H3117} a defenced{H4013} city{H5892}, and an iron{H1270} pillar{H5982}, and brasen{H5178} walls{H2346} against the whole land{H776}, against the kings{H4428} of Judah{H3063}, against the princes{H8269} thereof, against the priests{H3548} thereof, and against the people{H5971} of the land{H776}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  For beholde, this daye do I make the a stroge fensed towne, an yron pyler, and a wall of stele agaynst ye whole londe, agaynst the kinges and mightie men of Iuda, agaynst the prestes and people of the londe.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  For I, beholde, I this day haue made thee a defenced citie, and an yron pillar and walles of brasse against the whole lande, against the Kings of Iudah, and against the princes thereof, against the Priestes thereof and against the people of the lande.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  For beholde, this day do I make thee a strong fensed towne, an iron pyller, and a brasen wall, agaynst the whole lande, agaynst the kinges and mightie men of Iuda, agaynst the priestes and people of the lande.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the land.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  And I, lo, I have given thee this day for a fenced city, and for an iron pillar, and for brazen walls over all the land, to the kings of Judah, to its heads, to its priests, and to the people of the land;

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  For see, this day have I made you a walled town, and an iron pillar, and walls of brass, against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its captains, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

• World English Bible (2000)

  For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  I, the LORD, hereby promise to make you as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

Referenced Verses

• Isa 50:7 : 7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.
• Jer 6:27 : 27 I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may observe and test their ways.
• Jer 15:20 : 20 I will make you a fortified bronze wall to these people. They will fight against you but will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you,' declares the LORD.
• Ezek 3:8-9 : 8 Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as strong as their foreheads. 9 I have made your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not fear them or be dismayed by their faces, even though they are a rebellious house.
• Mic 3:8-9 : 8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, you who despise justice and twist all that is right:
• Jer 42:22 : 22 Now therefore be certain of this: You will die by the sword, famine, and plague in the place where you desire to go to settle.
• Jer 21:4-22:30 : 4 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am turning back the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. I will gather them into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, a strong arm, in anger, in fury, and with great wrath. 6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city—both man and beast—with a great plague, and they will die. 7 Afterward, declares the LORD, I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, the people, and those remaining in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their lives. He will strike them down with the edge of the sword without pity, without sparing, and without mercy. 8 Now you shall also say to this people: "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live; they shall save their life as a prize. 10 For I have set my face against this city for disaster and not for good, declares the LORD. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will burn it with fire. 11 To the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD. 12 House of David, this is what the LORD says: Execute justice in the morning and rescue the one who is robbed from the hand of the oppressor, or my wrath will go out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of the evil of your deeds. 13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, declares the LORD. You who say, 'Who can come against us? Who can enter our dwellings?' 14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will consume everything around her. 1 This is what the LORD says: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and deliver this message there. 2 Say: Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on David's throne—you, your officials, and your people who enter through these gates! 3 This is what the LORD says: Practice justice and righteousness. Rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. Do not mistreat or harm the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you indeed carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their officials, and their people. 5 But if you will not listen to these words, I swear by Myself—declares the LORD—that this palace will become a ruin. 6 For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah: Though you are like Gilead to me, like the peak of Lebanon, yet I will surely make you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities. 7 I will send destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down your choice cedars and throw them into the fire. 8 Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?' 9 And the answer will be: 'Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped and served other gods.' 10 Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will never return to see his native land. 11 For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king: He has gone out from this place and will never return. 12 He will die in the place where they have taken him into exile; he will never see this land again. 13 Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, making his neighbor work for nothing and not paying him for his labor. 14 He says, 'I will build for myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,' cutting out large windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it with vermilion. 15 Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Your father ate and drank, but he practiced justice and righteousness, and it went well with him. 16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and it was well with him. Is this not what it means to know me? declares the LORD. 17 But your eyes and heart are set only on your dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, and on oppression and violence. 18 Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, 'Alas, my brother!' or 'Alas, my sister!' They will not mourn for him, saying, 'Alas, my lord!' or 'Alas, his majesty!' 19 He will have the burial of a donkey—dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed. 21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way since your youth; you have not obeyed me. 22 The wind will shepherd all your rulers, and your lovers will go into captivity. At that time you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. 23 You who live in Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, anguish like that of a woman in labor! 24 As surely as I live, declares the LORD, even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25 I will hand you over to those who seek your life, to those you dread—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans. 26 I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another land where neither of you were born—and there you will both die. 27 You will never return to the land you long to go back to. 28 Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot, an object no one cares for? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they do not know? 29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! 30 This is what the LORD says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.
• Jer 26:12-15 : 12 But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, 'The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard.' 13 'Now, therefore, amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent concerning the disaster that He has pronounced against you.' 14 'But as for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right in your eyes.' 15 But you should certainly know that if you put me to death, you are bringing innocent blood upon yourselves, this city, and its inhabitants, for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.
• Jer 34:3 : 3 And you will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and handed over to him. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak directly to you. You will go to Babylon.
• Jer 34:20-22 : 20 I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. 21 And I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that has withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, I am giving a command, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without any inhabitants.
• Jer 36:27-32 : 27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 28 "Take another scroll and write on it all the original words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘This is what the LORD says: You burned this scroll, saying, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land and leave it without people or animals?”’ 30 Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat by day and to the frost by night. 31 I will punish him, his descendants, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the people of Judah, all the disaster I have pronounced against them, because they have not listened to me. 32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many more similar words were added to them.
• Jer 37:7 : 7 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: You are to tell this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of me: 'Pharaoh's army, which has marched out to help you, will return to its own land, to Egypt.'
• Jer 38:2 : 2 This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, or plague. But whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live; they will escape with their life and survive.
• Jer 38:18 : 18 But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’"
• John 1:42 : 42 Then he brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, 'You are Simon son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas' (which when translated is Peter).