Bible Strands
Jeremiah 21:5
And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to the Judean leadership during the Babylonian siege outside Jerusalem’s walls. He addresses their request for guidance by declaring His direct intervention against them.
The words — נִלְחַמְתִּי (nilchamtî) translates literally as "I will fight," and חֲזָקָה (chazqâ) means "strong" or "mighty," describing the arm with which He acts.
The thread — This pattern of God fighting against His own people appears in Isaiah 63:10, where rebellion turns Him into their enemy, and in Isaiah 5:25, where His hand is raised in anger to strike.
Why it lands — The verse states that God will oppose the besieged city with active warfare and wrath, requiring the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment, not deliverance, is the immediate reality.
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 myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
- Exodus 6:6 Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
- Isaiah 5:25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Jeremiah 32:17 “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Exodus 9:15 For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth.
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
- Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 9:21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Jeremiah 6:12 Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 4:23 Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.