Bible Strands
Jeremiah 15:12
Can anyone smash iron—iron from the north—or bronze?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses Jeremiah immediately after promising deliverance and intercession in his time of distress. He shifts from comfort to judgment, preparing the prophet for the imminent loss of his possessions due to his sins.
The words — The rhetorical question centers on יָרֹ֨עַ (ya.Ro.a'), meaning "will it break," and בַּרְזֶ֧ל (bar.Zel), meaning "iron." The phrase בַּרְזֶל מִצָּפוֹן (bar.Zel mi.tza.Fon) specifies "iron from the north," coupled with נְחֹֽשֶׁת (ne.Cho.shet), "bronze."
The thread — The unbreakable metal imagery reappears in Jeremiah 1:18, where God establishes the prophet as an iron pillar and bronze walls. It stands in tension with Isaiah 45:9, which forbids the clay from questioning the potter, and Job 40:9, which challenges human power against divine authority.
Why it lands — The text declares that iron and bronze cannot be smashed, indicating the coming military invasion and plunder are unstoppable. It requires the reader to accept that divine judgment operates beyond human resistance or prior assurances of relief.
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
Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Cross-references
- Job 40:9 Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- 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.
- Jeremiah 21:4 this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.
- Jeremiah 28:14 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’”
- Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you.