Jeremiah 33:21
in Jeremiah 33then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
KJV
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
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This verse in Jeremiah 33
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAs it is impossible for day to become night, so it is impossible for the Davidic monarchy to be destroyed. The fulfillment of this prophecy is also clear: Christ, who is of David according to the flesh, does not occupy the throne here below. He …
This site's exposition
And the word of the LORD
on Jeremiah 33:19-22
“If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night,” then the covenant with David can be broken. Verse 22 reaches for the largest images, “the sand on the seashore cannot be measured,” to promise the growth of David's line and the Levites.
This site's exposition
My covenant may also be broken with David
The Levites stand beside David in the same sentence, king and priest bound under one covenant. Barnes holds that this promise has been kept in a spiritual sense, since David's throne and the Levitical priesthood both ended. Matthew Henry sees Christ's church lasting to the end.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
God speaketh once, yea, twice, for the encouragement of his people. We are not only so disobedient that we have need of precept upon precept to bring us to our duty, but so distrustful that we have need of promise upon promise to bring us to our comfort. This word, as the former, came to Jeremiah when he was in prison.
This intimates that Christ shall have a church on earth to the world's end; he shall see a seed in which he shall prolong his days till time and day shall be no more. Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and when the end cometh, and not till then, it shall be delivered up to God, even the Father.
22 ), and has continued ever since, Ps. xix. The morning and the evening have both of them their regular outgoings ( Ps. lxv. 8 ); the day-spring knows its place, knows its time, and keeps both, so do the shadows of the evening; and, while the world stands, this course shall not be altered, this covenant shall not be broken.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This promise also has been not literally, but spiritually fulfilled, for in this sense only have the seed of David and the Levites been multiplied.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בְּרִיתִ֤י | beriti | covenant my | H1285 → | 284 times |
| תֻפַר֙ | tufar | it will be broken | H6565 → | 50 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | with | H854 → | 929 times |
| דָּוִ֣ד | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| עַבְדִּ֔י | ʾavdi | servant my | H5650 → | 799 times |
| מִהְיֽוֹת־ | mihyot- | from belonging | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| ל֥וֹ | lo | to <the> him | ||
| בֵ֖ן | ven | a son | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מֹלֵ֣ךְ | molekh | [who] reigns | H4427 → | 348 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כִּסְא֑וֹ | kiso | throne his | H3678 → | 135 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and with | H854 → | 929 times |
| הַלְוִיִּ֥ם | halviyim | the Levites | H3881 → | 291 times |
| הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים | hakohanim | the priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| מְשָׁרְתָֽי׃ | mesharetai | servants my | H8334 → | 97 times |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
בְּרִיתִ֤יcovenant my
beritiH1285 →284 times
תֻפַר֙it will be broken
tufarH6565 →50 times
אֶת־with
ʾet-H854 →929 times
דָּוִ֣דDavid
davidH1732 →999 times
עַבְדִּ֔יservant my
ʾavdiH5650 →799 times
מִהְיֽוֹת־from belonging
mihyot-H1961 →3559 times
ל֥וֹto <the> him
lo
בֵ֖ןa son
venH1121 →4930 times
מֹלֵ֣ךְ[who] reigns
molekhH4427 →348 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כִּסְא֑וֹthrone his
kisoH3678 →135 times
וְאֶת־and with
veetH854 →929 times
הַלְוִיִּ֥םthe Levites
halviyimH3881 →291 times
הַכֹּהֲנִ֖יםthe priests
hakohanimH3548 →750 times
מְשָׁרְתָֽי׃servants my
mesharetaiH8334 →97 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
Psalms 89:34I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.
it leads to
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Malachi 3:6
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
- Romans 11:29
For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
- Numbers 23:19
Through
2 Chronicles 21:7Yet the LORD was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant He had made with David, and since He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 11:36
I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.
- Psalms 132:17–18
There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.
- 1 Kings 11:36
Through
2 Samuel 23:5Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
- Isaiah 55:3
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, ON JEREMIAH 7:33.18.