New Living Translation
Jeremiah 15:12
12Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze?
Jeremiah 15:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
- New International Version (NIV)“Can a man break iron— iron from the north—or bronze?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Can anyone break iron, The northern iron and the bronze?
Context of Jeremiah 15:12
10Then I said, “What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay— yet they all curse me.” 11The Lord replied, “I will take care of you, Jeremiah. Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf in times of trouble and distress. Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze? 13At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land. 14I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever.”
Read all of Jeremiah 15Jeremiah 15:12 word by word
הֲיָרֹ֨עַ בַּרְזֶ֧ל׀ בַּרְזֶ֛ל מִצָּפ֖וֹן וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 15:12
- Jeremiah 1:18For see, today I have made you strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land— the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.
- Jeremiah 21:4‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside your walls attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city.
- Job 40:9Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?
- Isaiah 45:9“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’
- Habakkuk 1:5The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 15:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? - Shall our weak forces be able to oppose and overcome the powers of the Chaldeans? נחשת nechasheth, which we here translate steel, property signifies brass or copper united with tin, which gives it much hardness, and enables it to bear a good edge.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12The steel - “brass,” i. e., bronze. By the “iron” is meant Jeremiah‘s intercession; but this cannot alter the divine purpose to send Judah into exile, which is firm as steel and brass. For “brass” see Exodus 25:3 note. The alloy of copper and zinc now called brass was entirely unknown to the ancients.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-14Verses 10-14 Jeremiah met with much contempt and reproach, when they ought to have blessed him, and God for him. It is a great and sufficient support to the people of God, that however troublesome their way may be, it shall be well with them in their latter end. God turns to the people. Shall the most hardy and vigorous of their efforts be able to contend with the counsel of God, or with the army of the Chaldeans? Let them hear their doom. The enemy will…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12Iron and bronze symbolize the strong will that the Lord would give to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:18).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. steel--rather, brass or copper, which mixed with "iron" (by the Chalybes near the Euxine Pontus, far north of Palestine), formed the hardest metal, like our steel. Can the Jews, hardy like common iron though they be, break the still hardier Chaldees of the north (Jr 1:14), who resemble the Chalybian iron hardened with copper? Certainly not [Calvin]. Henderson translates. "Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass," on the ground that…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 15:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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