Bible Strands
Jeremiah 13:14
I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to the people of Jerusalem, immediately after warning that He will fill the land's kings, priests, prophets, and citizens with drunkenness.
The words — The Hebrew verb נִפַּצְתִּי (ni.patz.Ti) literally means "I will smash," combined with אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו (each to his brother) and יַחְדָּו (alike) to depict fathers and sons being shattered against one another.
The thread — The motif of unyielding divine judgment runs through Deuteronomy 29:20, where God's anger and jealousy will burn against the unforgiven, and Psalms 2:9, which describes shattering enemies like pottery. Isaiah 9:20 illustrates the resulting mutual strife and insatiable hunger among the people.
Why it lands — The text declares that God will actively prevent any mercy or compassion from halting His destruction of the people. It demands that listeners recognize the finality of His spoken word and abandon arrogance before the judgment arrives.
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
And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 29:20 The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
- Psalms 2:9 You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
- Isaiah 9:20 They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
- Isaiah 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Jeremiah 6:21 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.”
- Jeremiah 19:9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’
- Jeremiah 21:7 ‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’
- Judges 7:20 The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”
- 1 Samuel 14:16 Now when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in Benjamin looked and saw the troops melting away and scattering in every direction,
- 2 Chronicles 20:23 The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.