Bible Strands
Jeremiah 33:4
For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks to Jeremiah regarding the besieged city of Jerusalem and Judah during the Babylonian siege. The declaration occurs immediately after a summons to pray and precedes a warning of coming slaughter.
The words — כֹּה (khoh) = thus, and בָּתֵּי (ba.Tei) = houses. The phrase כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה (thus says Yahweh) formally introduces divine speech, while בָּתֵּי indicates the specific structures under judgment.
The thread — The siege ramp imagery connects to Jeremiah 32:24, Ezekiel 4:2, and Habakkuk 1:10, where enemy forces construct earthworks to breach fortified cities.
Why it lands — The text states that God addresses the ruined houses and palaces torn down for siege defense. It requires the reader to recognize the city's devastation as deliberate divine action and to respond by seeking God rather than relying on human fortifications.
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
For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 32:24 See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!
- Ezekiel 4:2 Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.
- Habakkuk 1:10 They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.
- Ezekiel 21:22 In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.
- Ezekiel 26:8 He will slaughter the villages of your mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp to your walls, and raise his shields against you.