Jeremiah 16:21
in Jeremiah 16“Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.
KJV
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.
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This verse in Jeremiah 16
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Verse 21.) Therefore behold, I will show them in turn this: I will show them my hand and my power, and they will know that my name is the Lord. The hand of God by which he has accomplished all things, and the power, of which the Apostle said: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), is revealed to the Gentiles, through the completion of the Son's passion.
This site's exposition
O LORD, my strength and my fortress
on Jeremiah 16:19-21
Jeremiah breaks into the oracle with a confession of faith. He sees the nations coming to confess that their fathers “inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all”. The chapter closes on the LORD’s resolve, “then they will know that My name is the LORD”.
This site's exposition
Therefore behold, I will inform them
This time the LORD will make his power known by judgment. Barnes counts the burning of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon as the greatest display of the hand of God. Matthew Henry sees in the return from exile a figure of the salvation the Messiah would bring.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Shall a man make gods for himself?" Not only from images do human beings make gods for themselves, but you will find human beings making gods for themselves also from fabrications; for as many as are able to fabricate another god and another cosmogony besides the one recorded by the Spirit, a dispensation of the world besides the true world, all these have made gods for themselves and have worshiped the works of their hands. For instance, conceive for me, whether among the Greeks those who begot doctrines, say, of this philosophy or of that, or among the heresies those who first begot doctrines, these have made for themselves idols and fabrications of the soul, and turning aside have worshiped the works of their own hands, having accepted their own fabrications as truth. Convicting, then, all those who make gods for themselves both perceptibly and intelligibly, the word says: "Shall a man make gods for himself, and are these not gods? Therefore, behold, I will show them my hand at this time, and I will make known to them my power." At what time but this? And indicating the time of the coming of the Lord: "And they shall know," he says, "that my name is Lord."
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Note, So stupid are we that nothing less than the mighty hand of divine grace, known experimentally, can make us know rightly the name of God as it is revealed to us. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be a type and figure of this great salvation to be wrought out by the Messiah, who shall gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
And they shall know that my name is Jehovah, a God with whom there is no contending, who gives being to threatenings and puts life into them as well as promises." II. Yet he has mercy in store for them, intimations of which come in here for the encouragement of the prophet himself and of those few among them that tremble at God's word. It was said, with an air of severity (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
We are now sensible that our fathers were cheated in their idolatrous worship; it did not prove what it promised, and therefore what have we to do any more with it?" Note, It were well if the disappointment which some have met with in the service of sin, and the pernicious consequences of it to them, might prevail to deter others from treading in their steps.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Therefore - Because all the mercy I have shewed them, will not learn them to know my might, I will once for all make them to understand it, by the dreadful strokes of my vengeance.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know,....
This he foretold, but few regarded the prediction; therefore he is to show that he is himself fully satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in their usual course, but he, in the prospect of these sad times, is forbidden and therefore forbears marriage, mourning for the dead, and mirth.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This once - Whether we consider the greatness of the national disgrace and suffering caused by it, or its effect upon the mind of the Jews, the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, followed by the captivity of the people at Babylon, stands out as the greatest manifestation of God’s “hand” in all His dealings with them.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Therefore--In order that all may be turned from idols to Jehovah, He will now give awful proof of His divine power in the judgments He will inflict. this once--If the punishments I have heretofore inflicted have not been severe enough to teach them. my name . . .
Therefore, behold, I will this once - I will not now change my purpose. They shall be visited and carried into captivity; nothing shall prevent this: and they shall know that my name is Jehovah. Since they would not receive the abundance of my mercies, they shall know what the true God can do in the way of judgment.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵן֙ | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הִנְנִ֣י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| מֽוֹדִיעָ֔ם | modiam | [am] about to make know them | H3045 → | 945 times |
| בַּפַּ֣עַם | bapaam | at the time | H6471 → | |
| הַזֹּ֔את | hazot | <the> this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| אוֹדִיעֵ֥ם | ʾodiem | I will make know them | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָדִ֖י | yadi | hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| גְּבֽוּרָתִ֑י | gevurati | might my | H1369 → | 61 times |
| וְיָדְע֖וּ | veyadeu | and they will know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שְׁמִ֥י | shemi | name my | H8034 → | 864 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | [is] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
לָכֵן֙<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
הִנְנִ֣יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
מֽוֹדִיעָ֔ם[am] about to make know them
modiamH3045 →945 times
בַּפַּ֣עַםat the time
bapaamH6471 →
הַזֹּ֔את<the> this
hazotH2063 →603 times
אוֹדִיעֵ֥םI will make know them
ʾodiemH3045 →945 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יָדִ֖יhand my
yadiH3027 →1618 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
גְּבֽוּרָתִ֑יmight my
gevuratiH1369 →61 times
וְיָדְע֖וּand they will know
veyadeuH3045 →945 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שְׁמִ֥יname my
shemiH8034 →864 times
יְהוָֽה׃ ס[is] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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 83:18May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
it leads to
- Exodus 6:3
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 6:3
Through
Isaiah 43:3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
it leads to
- Isaiah 60:16
You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Isaiah 45:15
Truly You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
- 2 Chronicles 14:9–14
Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah.
- Isaiah 49:26
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…
- Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Isaiah 60:16
Through
Amos 5:8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
it leads to
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 16.