Jeremiah 13:19
in Jeremiah 13The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.
KJV
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
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This verse in Jeremiah 13
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shall be shut up - Rather, “are shut up, and no man openeth them.” The cities of the Negeb, the southern district of Judah, are blockaded, with no one to raise the siege. The captivity was the inevitable result of the capture of the fortified towns. An army entering from the north would march along the Shefelah, or fertile plain near the seacoast, and would capture the outlying cities, before it attacked Jerusalem, almost inaccessible among the mountains. Judah shall be ... - Translate, “Judah is ...”
This site's exposition
Say to the king and to the queen mother
on Jeremiah 13:18-19
The king and the queen mother told to “Take a lowly seat” are Jehoiachin and his mother Nehushta. Their “glorious crowns have fallen” a few years after this word was spoken. The shut cities of the Negev are the southern towns cut off as the enemy closes on Judah.
This site's exposition
The cities of the Negev have been shut
The Negev lay farthest from an enemy coming from the north, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. Adam Clarke reads its fall as the invader sweeping from one end of the land to the other. Henderson takes shut to mean deserted.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 18, 19.) Say to the king and the queen (or say to the king and the powerful): Humble yourselves, sit down, for the crown of your glory has been taken off (or has descended) from your head. The cities of the South are closed, and there is no one who will open them. All of Judah has been carried away (or all of Judah has been taken away) in complete exile (or captivity).
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
God will make a full end with them: It shall be wholly carried away. So it was in the last captivity under Zedekiah, because they repented not. (3.) The enemy was now at hand that should do this (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them,....
He is to convince them that it is for their obstinacy and incorrigibleness that the judgments of God are so prolonged and brought to extremity,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cities of the south--namely, south of Judea; farthest off from the enemy, who advanced from the north. shut up--that is, deserted (Isa 24:10); so that none shall be left to open the gates to travellers and merchants again [HENDERSON].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The cities of the south shall be shut up - Not only the cities of the north, the quarter at which the Chaldeans entered, but the cities of the south also; for he shall proceed from one extremity of the land to the other, spreading devastation every where, and carrying off the inhabitants.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָרֵ֥י | ʾarei | [the] cities of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| הַנֶּ֛גֶב | hanegev | the Negev | H5045 → | 112 times |
| סֻגְּר֖וּ | sugeru | they have been shut up | H5462 → | |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| פֹּתֵ֑חַ | poteach | [is one who] opens | H6605 → | 144 times |
| הָגְלָ֧ת | hagelat | it has been taken into exile | H1540 → | 186 times |
| יְהוּדָ֛ה | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| כֻּלָּ֖הּ | kulah | all of it | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָגְלָ֥ת | hagelat | it has been taken into exile | H1540 → | 186 times |
| שְׁלוֹמִֽים׃ ס | shelomim | completeness<es> | H7965 → | 236 times |
עָרֵ֥י[the] cities of
ʾareiH5892 →1090 times
הַנֶּ֛גֶבthe Negev
hanegevH5045 →112 times
סֻגְּר֖וּthey have been shut up
sugeruH5462 →
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
פֹּתֵ֑חַ[is one who] opens
poteachH6605 →144 times
הָגְלָ֧תit has been taken into exile
hagelatH1540 →186 times
יְהוּדָ֛הJudah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
כֻּלָּ֖הּall of it
kulahH3605 →5413 times
הָגְלָ֥תit has been taken into exile
hagelatH1540 →186 times
שְׁלוֹמִֽים׃ סcompleteness<es>
shelomimH7965 →236 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 39:9Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away to Babylon the remnant of the people who had remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to him.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:18
For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be captured.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 40:1
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem…
- Genesis 37:36
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
- Jeremiah 10:18
Through
2 Kings 25:21There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:64
Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…
- 2 Kings 23:27
For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My…
- Deuteronomy 28:64
Through
Jeremiah 52:27There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 25:9–11
behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
- Micah 4:10
Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be…
- Ezekiel 8:11–18
Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
- Jeremiah 25:9–11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.