Bible Strands
Jeremiah 21:2
“Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the LORD will perform for us something like all His past wonders, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Zedekiah sends the priests Pashhur and Zephaniah to Jeremiah to request divine intervention as Nebuchadnezzar’s army besieges Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:1).
The words — The Hebrew דָּרַשׁ (darash) means “seek” or “inquire,” combined with נָא (na) “please” and בְּעַד (ba‘ad) “on behalf of,” forming a formal petition to seek Yahweh’s will for their survival.
The thread — This mission mirrors later requests in Jeremiah 37:3 and 42:4, where Judah’s leaders repeatedly send messengers to Jeremiah during the Babylonian siege.
Why it lands — The text records a political plea for military deliverance rather than repentance, demanding the reader examine whether faith seeks God’s will or merely His compliance.
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
Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 37:3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us!”
- 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 42:4 “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will surely pray to the LORD your God as you request, and I will tell you everything that the LORD answers. I will not withhold a word from you.”
- Ezekiel 20:1 In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.
- 1 Samuel 28:6 He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
- 1 Samuel 28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
- 1 Kings 14:2 and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now get up, disguise yourself so they will not recognize you as my wife, and go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who spoke about my kingship over this people.
- Psalms 44:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
- Exodus 14:1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
- Joshua 10:1 Now Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction—doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king—and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living near them.