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Jeremiah 21:10

in Jeremiah 21

For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith Jehovah: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

KJV

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

This verse in Jeremiah 21

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Furthermore, you are to tell this

on Jeremiah 21:8-10

The LORD sets “before you the way of life and the way of death,” the choice of Deuteronomy 30:19 with its terms reversed. “Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague,” but whoever “surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live.”

This site's exposition

I have set My face against

A face set against the city means a fixed mind. Fire is named as the end, and the book records the city burned when it fell (Jeremiah 39:8). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note on verse 12 that the decree against the city had already gone out.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 8 and following) And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live, and shall have his life as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

16 ), but it was the best course they could take now that God was against them. Both the law and the prophets had often set before them life and death in another sense--life if they obey the voice of God, death if they persist in disobedience, Deut. xxx.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

For I have set my face against this city,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

He shall burn it with fire - What a heavy message to all; and especially to them who had any fear of God, or reverence for the temple and its sacred services!

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • שַׂ֣מְתִּיI have set

    samtiH7760 →584 times

  • פָ֠נַיface my

    fanaiH6440 →2123 times

  • בָּעִ֨ירon the city

    bairH5892 →1090 times

  • הַזֹּ֧את<the> this

    hazotH2063 →603 times

  • לְרָעָ֛הfor harm

    leraahH7451 →662 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • לְטוֹבָ֖הfor good

    letovahH2896 →538 times

  • נְאֻם־[the] utterance of

    neum-H5002 →376 times

  • יְהוָ֑הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • בְּיַד־in [the] hand of

    beyad-H3027 →1618 times

  • מֶ֤לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH4428 →2525 times

  • בָּבֶל֙Babylon

    bavelH894 →262 times

  • תִּנָּתֵ֔ןit will be given

    tinatenH5414 →2011 times

  • וּשְׂרָפָ֖הּand he will burn it

    userafahH8313 →117 times

  • בָּאֵֽשׁ׃ סwith <the> fire

    baeshH784 →378 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Ezekiel 15:7

    And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I…

    it leads to

    • Psalms 34:16

      But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 14:8

      I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

  • Through

    Amos 9:4

    Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 17:10

      If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Leviticus 26:33

      But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:13

    He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

    it leads to

    • Micah 3:12

      Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

    • Psalms 79:1

      The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

    • 2 Chronicles 36:19

      Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 44:27

    I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 31:28

      Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.

About Jeremiah

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.