Bible Strands
Jeremiah 1:15
For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Jeremiah, declaring that He will summon northern clans and kingdoms to besiege Jerusalem and the surrounding cities of Judah. This announcement follows a prior revelation that disaster would pour out from the north upon the entire land.
The words — קֹרֵא (ko.re') translates literally as "summoning" or "calling," and צָפוֹנָה (tza.fona) means "northward" or "toward the north." These terms establish the geographic origin and the divine agency behind the mobilization of invading kings.
The thread — The summons of northern armies recurs in Jeremiah 4:16 and 25:9, while the resulting desolation of Jerusalem and Judah appears in Jeremiah 9:11. These passages share a consistent pattern of divine judgment executed through foreign conquest.
Why it lands — The text presents political invasion as a direct instrument of covenant enforcement, requiring readers to acknowledge that national security cannot override moral and religious fidelity. It demands a sober assessment of consequences rather than a presumption of guaranteed protection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:16 Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
- Jeremiah 9:11 “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jeremiah 25:9 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, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 43:10 Then tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones that I have embedded, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.
- Isaiah 22:7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.
- Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Jeremiah 39:3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
- Deuteronomy 28:49 The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,
- Jeremiah 5:15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
- Jeremiah 6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.