Bible Strands
Jeremiah 22:24
“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, addressing King Coniah son of Jehoiakim immediately prior to announcing his delivery to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans.
The words — חַי (chai) carries the literal sense of “[by] [the] life,” establishing the oath formula, while נְאֻם (ne'um) translates as “[the] utterance of,” framing the declaration as a direct pronouncement from Yahweh.
The thread — The name Coniah appears in 1 Chronicles 3:16 as Jehoiakim’s successor and is noted in Jeremiah 37:1 as being replaced by Zedekiah under Nebuchadnezzar’s authority. The signet ring imagery parallels the seal metaphor in Song of Solomon 8:6, which only identifies the object as a seal without covenantal designation.
Why it lands — The text states that royal position or hypothetical divine favor cannot shield Coniah from removal. It requires the reader to accept that human status offers no protection against the declared utterance of Yahweh.
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
As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 37:1 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made Zedekiah son of Josiah the king of Judah, and he reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim.
- 1 Chronicles 3:16 The successors of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, and Zedekiah.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- 2 Kings 24:6 And Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
- Haggai 2:23 On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”
- Jeremiah 22:6 For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited.
- Jeremiah 22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot, a jar that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they do not know?
- Matthew 1:11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.