Bible Strands
Jeremiah 14:9
Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A corporate prayer addressed to Yahweh during a time of national distress, placed between a plea for His presence in Jeremiah 14:8 and a declaration of His judgment in Jeremiah 14:10. The speaker identifies the congregation as covenant members who bear God’s name while confronting His apparent silence.
The words — The term נִדְהָם (nid.Ham) literally means "astounded" or "taken by surprise," coupled with יוּכַל (yu.Khal) for "able" to form the direct question of whether God can still act as a warrior to save.
The thread — The tension between covenant identity and perceived abandonment runs through Isaiah 63:19, which contrasts being called by His name with becoming like those He never ruled, while the question of divine power to save intersects with Numbers 11:23 and Isaiah 59:1.
Why it lands — It demands honest lament over religious pretense by forcing the reader to hold God’s covenantal presence and the people’s unrepentant state in the same breath.
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
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 59:1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
- Isaiah 63:19 We have become like those You never ruled, like those not called by Your name.
- Numbers 11:23 The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”
- Numbers 14:15 If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,
- Psalms 46:5 God is within her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.
- Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.
- Exodus 29:45 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
- Isaiah 50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
- Daniel 9:18 Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.
- 2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”