Jeremiah 1:18

Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — YHWH speaks to Jeremiah in the commissioning scene (ch. 1), between the command to stand and speak (v. 17) and the promise of deliverance (v. 19). This is the moment of appointment.

The words — מִבְצָר (mivtsar), "fortification," and בַּרְזֶל (barzel), "iron," together paint a military image: not a person but a structure built to resist siege.

The thread — Jeremiah 15:20 nearly repeats the formula ("a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome"), and Ezekiel 3:8 gives the prophet a face as hard as his opponents'.

Why it lands — The verse makes explicit that being sent with a hard word means becoming the target, and that the strength given is for endurance under attack, not for comfort.

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

וַאֲנִ֞יva./'a.Niand/ I הִנֵּ֧הhi.Nehhere!נְתַתִּ֣יךָne.ta.Ti./khaI have made/ you הַיּ֗וֹםhai./Yomthis/ day לְעִ֨ירle./'Irinto/ a city of מִבְצָ֜רmiv.Tzarfortification וּלְעַמּ֥וּדu./le./'a.Mudand/ into/ a pillar of בַּרְזֶ֛לbar.Zeliron וּלְחֹמ֥וֹתu./le./cho.Motand/ into/ walls of נְחֹ֖שֶׁתne.Cho.shetbronze עַל־'al-on כָּל־kol-all הָאָ֑רֶץha./'A.retzthe/ land לְמַלְכֵ֤יle./mal.Kheito/ [the] kings of יְהוּדָה֙ye.hu.DahJudah לְשָׂרֶ֔יהָle./sa.Rei./hato/ officials/ its לְכֹהֲנֶ֖יהָle./kho.ha.Nei./hato/ priests/ its וּלְעַ֥םu./le./'Amand/ to/ [the] people of הָאָֽרֶץ׃ha./'A.retzthe/ land

King James Version

For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

Cross-references

Isaiah 50:7 Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.
Ezekiel 3:8 Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
Jeremiah 15:20 Then I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 6:27 “I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways.
Micah 3:8 As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
Jeremiah 34:20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
Jeremiah 36:27 After the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 37:7 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.
Jeremiah 26:12 But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
Jeremiah 38:2 “This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.