TRV
Translation
King James Version
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.
Complete Jewish Bible
For I have determined absolutely that this city will have evil, not good," says ADONAI. "It is going to be handed over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground."'
Berean Standard Bible
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.’
American Standard Version
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.
World English Bible Messianic
For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, says the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Geneva Bible (1599)
For I haue set my face against this citie, for euill and not for good, saith the Lord: it shalbe giuen into the hande of the King of Babel, and he shall burne it with fire.
Young's Literal Translation
For I have set My face against this city for evil, And not for good--an affirmation of Jehovah. Into the hand of the king of Babylon it is given, And he hath burned it with fire.
In the KJVVerse 19,451 of 31,102
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Commentary on Jeremiah 21 verses 8–14
8 ¶ And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10 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.
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
By the civil message which the king sent to Jeremiah it appeared that both he and the people began to have a respect for him, which it would have been Jeremiah's policy to make some advantage of for himself; but the reply which God obliges him to make is enough to crush the little respect they begin to have for him, and to exasperate them against him more than ever. Not only the predictions in the foregoing verses, but the prescriptions in these, were provoking; for here,
I. He advises the people to surrender and ??desert to the Chaldeans, as the only means left them to save their lives, Jer 21:8-10. This counsel was very displeasing to those who were flattered by their false prophets into a desperate resolution to hold out to the last extremity, trusting to the strength of their walls and the courage of their soldiery to keep out the enemy, or to their foreign aids to raise the siege. The prophet assures them, "The city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall not only plunder it, but burn it with fire, for God himself hath set his face against this city for evil and not for good, to lay it waste and not to protect it, for evil which shall have no good mixed with it, no mitigation or merciful allay; and therefore, if you would make the best of bad, you must beg quarter of the Chaldeans, and surrender prisoners of war." In vain did Rabshakeh persuade the Jews to do this while they had God for them (Isa 36:16), 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, Deu 30:19. But they had slighted that life which would have made them truly happy, to upbraid them with which the prophet here uses the same expression (Jer 21:8): Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death, which denotes not, as that, a fair proposal, but a melancholy dilemma, advising them of two evils to choose the less; and that less evil, a shameful and wretched captivity, is all the life now left for them to propose to themselves. He that abides in the city, and trusts to that to secure him, shall certainly die either by the sword without the walls or famine or pestilence within. But he that can so far bring down his spirit, and quit his vain hopes, as to go out, and fall to the Chaldeans, his life shall be given him for a prey; he shall save his life, but with much difficulty and hazard, as a prey is taken from the mighty. It is an expression like that, He shall be saved, yet so as by fire. He shall escape but very narrowly, or he shall have such surprising joy and satisfaction in escaping with his life from such a universal destruction as shall equal theirs that divide the spoil. They thought to make a prey of the camp of the Chaldeans, as their ancestors did that of the Assyrians (Isa 33:23), but they will be sadly disappointed; if by yielding at discretion they can but save their lives, that is all the prey they must promise themselves. Now one would think this advice from a prophet, in God's name, should have gained some credit with them and been universally followed; but, for aught that appears, there were few or none that took it; so wretchedly were their hearts hardened, to their destruction.
II. He advises the king and princes to reform, and make conscience of the duty of their place. Because it was the king that sent the message to him, in the reply there shall be a particular word for the house of the king, not to compliment or court them (that was no part of the prophet's business, no, not when they did him the honour to send to him), but to give them wholesome counsel (Jer 21:11, Jer 21:12): "Execute judgment in the morning; do it carefully and diligently. Those magistrates that would fill up their place with duty had need rise betimes. Do it quickly, and do not delay to do justice upon appeals made to you, and tire out poor petitioners as you have done. Do not lie in your beds in a morning to sleep away the debauch of the night before, nor spend the morning in pampering the body (as those princes, Ecc 10:16), but spend it in the despatch of business. You would be delivered out of the hand of those that distress you, and expect that therein God should do you justice; see then that you do justice to those that apply to you, and deliver them out of the hand of their oppressors, lest my fury go out like fire against you in a particular manner, and you fare worst who think to escape best, because of the evil of your doings." Now, 1. This intimates that it was their neglect to do their duty that brought all this desolation upon the people. It was the evil of their doings that kindled the fire of God's wrath. Thus plainly does he deal even with the house of the king; for those that would have the benefit of a prophet's prayers must thankfully take a prophet's reproofs. 2. This directs them to take the right method for a national reformation. The princes must begin, and set a good example, and then the people will be invited to reform. They must use their power for the punishment of wrong, and then the people will be obliged to reform. He reminds them that they are the house of David, and therefore should tread in his steps, who executed judgment and justice to his people. 3. This gives them some encouragement to hope that there may yet be a lengthening of their tranquillity, Dan 4:27. If any thing will recover their state from the brink of ruin, this will.
III. He shows them the vanity of all their hopes so long as they continued unreformed, Jer 21:13, Jer 21:14. Jerusalem is an inhabitant of the valley, guarded with mountains on all sides, which were their natural fortifications, making it difficult for an army to approach them. It is a rock of the plain, which made it difficult for an enemy to undermine them. These advantages of their situation they trusted to more than to the power and promise of God; and, thinking their city by these means to be impregnable, they set the judgments of God at defiance, saying, "Who shall come down against us? None of our neighbours dare make a descent upon us, or, if they do, who shall enter into our habitations?" They had some colour for this confidence; for it appears to have been the sense of all their neighbours that no enemy could force his way into Jerusalem, Lam 4:12. But those are least safe that are most secure. God soon shows the vanity of that challenge, Who shall come down against us? when he says (Jer 21:13), Behold, I am against thee. They had indeed by the wickedness driven God out of their city when he would have tarried with them as a friend; but they could not by their bulwarks keep them out of their city when he came against them as an enemy. If God be for us, who can be against us? But, if he be against us, who can be for us, to stand us in any stead? Nay, he comes against them not as an enemy that may lawfully and with some hope of success be resisted, but as a judge that cannot be resisted; for he says (Jer 21:14), I will punish you, by due course of law, according to the fruit of your doings, that is, according to the merit of them and the direct tendency of them. That shall be brought upon you which is the natural product of sin. Nay, he will not only come with the anger of an enemy and the justice of a judge, but with the force of a consuming fire, which has no compassion, as a judge sometimes has, nor spares any thing combustible that comes in its way. Jerusalem has become a forest, in which God will kindle a fire that shall consume all before it; for our God is himself a consuming fire; and who is able to stand in his sight when once he is angry?
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 8–14. Public domain.
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Commentary on Jeremiah
(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. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire. Those who were sent by the king and came to the Prophet to plead with him to inquire of the Lord for them, received an answer concerning the king of Judah and what they should report to him. Now he encourages them to respond to the people and advises them to surrender to the Chaldeans against the king's will, which the Prophet knows was dangerous. Therefore, he curses the day of his birth, saying: 'Cursed be the day on which I was born.' (Jeremiah 20:14). And why did I come out from the womb, to see toil and sorrow (Ibid., 18)? Not because it is a trivial matter, nor yet to give advice to those already captured, that they should willingly submit to captivity, as if a shipwreck were ordered on those about to suffer it, so that, before the shipwreck and the ship being dashed to pieces, they should seize the oars and planks and cast themselves into the waves; but because it is more tolerable to live in whatever way, having been captured, than to be consumed by the sword, famine, and pestilence. There are those who have expounded this passage as follows, according to a metaphorical interpretation: the secular disciplines, and especially philosophy, are better than remaining within that Church in which there is hunger for the word of God, and the entire people die from both a scarcity of doctrine and a heretical plague.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 21:10 delivers a definitive and unyielding divine decree against Jerusalem, announcing its inescapable and complete destruction at the hands of the Babylonian king. This pronouncement, stemming directly from the LORD, clarifies that the impending catastrophe is not merely a geopolitical event but a deliberate act of divine judgment. God declares His unwavering resolve to bring "evil, and not for good," upon the city, signifying the finality of His decision to deliver Jerusalem into the absolute control of Nebuchadnezzar, who will then burn it with fire, sealing its devastating fate.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Jeremiah 21:10 is a pivotal and climactic verse within a direct prophetic oracle delivered by Jeremiah to King Zedekiah. The chapter opens with Zedekiah sending Pashhur and Zephaniah to Jeremiah, desperately seeking a word from the LORD regarding the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, hoping for a miraculous intervention similar to past deliverances, as seen in Jeremiah 21:1-2. However, Jeremiah's response, beginning in Jeremiah 21:3, shatters any such hope. Instead of deliverance, God declares He will fight against Jerusalem, turning its own weapons back upon it and gathering its inhabitants for slaughter, as detailed in Jeremiah 21:4-6. Verse 10 solidifies this grim reality, explicitly stating the LORD's unalterable decision to bring destruction. The verses immediately following (e.g., Jeremiah 21:8-9 then offer individual counsel, distinguishing between the fate of the city and the potential for survival for those who surrender to the Babylonians.
Historical & Cultural Context: The historical backdrop for Jeremiah 21:10 is the final, desperate days of the Kingdom of Judah, specifically during the third and decisive Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (588-586 BC). Jerusalem was under siege by the formidable Neo-Babylonian Empire, led by King Nebuchadnezzar II. This was the culmination of Judah's long history of rebellion against God, following earlier deportations and the installation of Zedekiah as a vassal king, who then rebelled against Babylon. Culturally, Jerusalem held immense significance as the capital, the city of David, and the location of the Temple, God's dwelling place. The people often clung to a false sense of security, believing Jerusalem was inviolable due to God's presence there, a belief challenged by prophets like Micah, as seen in Micah 3:11. Jeremiah's message directly confronted this presumption, emphasizing that God's covenant blessings were conditional upon obedience, and persistent idolatry and injustice had led to this divine judgment. The "king of Babylon" was not merely a foreign aggressor but, in God's sovereign plan, an instrument of divine wrath, referred to as God's "servant" in Jeremiah 25:9.
Key Themes: Jeremiah 21:10 profoundly contributes to several overarching themes in Jeremiah and the broader prophetic literature. Firstly, it underscores the theme of Divine Judgment and Consequences. The explicit declaration "for evil, and not for good" highlights the severe and inevitable consequences of Judah's chronic unfaithfulness, idolatry, and rejection of God's prophetic warnings. This judgment is not arbitrary but a just response to covenant breaking, as forewarned in passages like Deuteronomy 28. Secondly, the verse powerfully asserts God's Absolute Sovereignty. The LORD declares, "I have set my face against this city," emphasizing His active, decisive, and intentional involvement in the unfolding historical events. He is not a passive observer but the ultimate orchestrator, using even foreign powers like Babylon as instruments of His righteous judgment, as seen in Jeremiah 25:9. Finally, it conveys the theme of Irreversible Decree. At this stage, God's judgment against the city of Jerusalem is presented as final and unalterable. The city "shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire," leaving no room for negotiation or escape for the city itself, a stark contrast to earlier opportunities for repentance and a reminder of the point of no return for persistent rebellion, as also depicted in 2 Kings 24:3-4.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 21:10 employs several potent Literary Devices to convey its message of impending judgment with dramatic force. The most striking is Anthropomorphism, seen in the phrase "I have set my face against this city." Attributing a human action (setting one's face) to God vividly portrays His unyielding resolve and direct, personal opposition to Jerusalem. This is not a detached decree but an active, determined stance. There is also clear Contrast established by the phrase "for evil, and not for good," which starkly juxtaposes the expected divine blessing with the declared divine curse, emphasizing the severity and nature of the judgment that is the antithesis of the covenant blessings. The entire verse functions as a Prophetic Utterance, a direct, authoritative word from God delivered through His prophet, authenticated by the concluding "saith the LORD." This formula authenticates the message as divine and unchallengeable. Finally, Metonymy is present in "into the hand of the king of Babylon," where "hand" represents the full power, authority, and control of the Babylonian king, signifying complete subjugation and destruction under his dominion, as God's chosen instrument.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 21:10 stands as a stark testament to God's justice and holiness, revealing that His patience with persistent sin eventually gives way to righteous judgment. It underscores the serious consequences of covenant infidelity and highlights God's sovereign control over history, even using pagan nations as instruments of His will. While deeply sobering, this judgment is not arbitrary but flows from a long history of Judah's rebellion against God's commands and repeated rejections of His prophetic warnings. The destruction of Jerusalem, the very city where God's Temple resided, serves as a powerful reminder that divine favor is conditional upon faithfulness, and even a chosen people are not immune to the consequences of their sin. This act of judgment, though devastating, ultimately clears the way for a future restoration and a new covenant, emphasizing God's ultimate faithfulness to His long-term redemptive plan, even through the crucible of suffering and purification.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 21:10 serves as a sobering and enduring reminder of the gravity of sin and the unwavering justice of God. For believers today, it challenges any complacency regarding our own spiritual state and the warnings found in Scripture. While we live under the New Covenant of grace, this verse powerfully illustrates that God is not indifferent to disobedience or unfaithfulness. It calls us to a deep reverence for God's holiness and a serious consideration of His commands. We are invited to examine our own lives for areas of rebellion or spiritual apathy, understanding that while God is merciful and patient, He is also just and will not be mocked. This passage encourages us to heed divine warnings, to cultivate a posture of humility and repentance, and to trust in God's sovereignty even when His ways are difficult to comprehend. It reminds us that true security is found not in physical structures or past blessings, but in a right relationship with the living God, characterized by obedience and faith, and a willingness to align our lives with His revealed will.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Was God unfair or cruel to Jerusalem by bringing such destruction?
Answer: From a biblical perspective, God's actions, though severe, were not unfair or cruel but righteous judgment. Jeremiah 21:10 is the culmination of centuries of Israel's covenant unfaithfulness, idolatry, social injustice, and rejection of prophetic warnings. God had repeatedly sent prophets, including Jeremiah, to call His people to repentance and had demonstrated immense patience. The destruction of Jerusalem was a direct consequence of their persistent rebellion, a fulfillment of the curses outlined in the Mosaic Covenant (e.g., Deuteronomy 28:15-68). It was a demonstration of God's holiness and His commitment to His own character, which cannot tolerate unrepentant sin indefinitely.
How does this verse, which speaks of "evil" and "not for good," reconcile with God's loving and merciful nature?
Answer: This verse highlights the tension between God's love and His justice. While God is indeed loving and merciful, He is also perfectly just and holy. His love is not a sentimental affection that overlooks sin, but a steadfast commitment to righteousness. The "evil" referred to here is the calamitous judgment, the just consequence of prolonged rebellion, not an act of malice. Even in judgment, God's ultimate purpose is often redemptive – to purify His people and lead them to repentance, as seen in later prophecies of restoration (e.g., Jeremiah 29:10-14). The judgment serves to underscore the seriousness of sin and the value of His covenant, ultimately aiming for His people's good by bringing them back to Himself.
What was the ultimate fate of King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem after this prophecy?
Answer: Jeremiah 21:10 foreshadows the grim reality that unfolded. King Zedekiah was captured, forced to watch his sons executed, and then had his eyes put out before being taken in chains to Babylon Jeremiah 39:6-7. The city of Jerusalem was indeed burned with fire, and its walls were torn down, as extensively detailed in Jeremiah 52:12-14. The majority of the surviving population was deported to Babylon, marking the end of the Kingdom of Judah and the beginning of the Babylonian exile. However, as Jeremiah himself prophesied, a remnant would eventually return after 70 years, demonstrating God's faithfulness even beyond judgment and His commitment to His covenant promises Jeremiah 29:10.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 21:10, with its stark pronouncement of divine judgment and fiery destruction upon Jerusalem, finds its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment and reinterpretation in the person and work of Jesus. While earthly Jerusalem faced the temporal judgment of God for its unfaithfulness, the New Testament reveals that the ultimate "fire" of God's wrath, due to humanity's sin, was poured out upon Christ on the cross. He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, bearing the "evil" and judgment that humanity deserved, so that all who believe might receive "good" and not condemnation Romans 8:1. The "face" of God, once set against a rebellious city in judgment, is now turned towards believers in grace and mercy through the face of Jesus Christ, in whom the glory of God is revealed 2 Corinthians 4:6. Furthermore, while earthly Jerusalem was burned, Christ inaugurates a new, spiritual Jerusalem, the Church, which is not subject to such destruction but is built upon Him as the cornerstone, a holy temple in the Lord Ephesians 2:20-22. Ultimately, the book of Revelation portrays a New Jerusalem descending from heaven, a city perfected by Christ's redemption, where there is no more curse, sorrow, or pain, and where God Himself dwells eternally with His people, a stark and glorious contrast to the judgment of old Jerusalem. Thus, the judgment in Jeremiah 21:10 foreshadows the severity of sin, while Christ's sacrifice provides the ultimate escape from that judgment, offering eternal life and a secure dwelling in the very presence of God.