Bible Strands
Jeremiah 38:23
All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces this judgment to King Zedekiah during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. The declaration follows his prior warning that the city will fall if resistance continues.
The words — The Hebrew כָּל (kol) means "all," and נָשֶׁיךָ (naShekha) translates to "your wives." These terms establish the exhaustive scope of the royal household's captivity.
The thread — The prophecy of seized royal family and burned city corresponds to the events detailed in Jeremiah 39:6 and the captivity account in Jeremiah 41:10. The conditional surrender warning in Jeremiah 38:18 frames the immediate context of this pronouncement.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that refusal to submit to Babylonian authority guarantees capture, exile, and urban destruction. It requires the reader to recognize the finality of divine warning and abandon reliance on political survival strategies.
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
So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 41:10 Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah—the daughters of the king along with all the others who remained in Mizpah—over whom Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.
- Jeremiah 38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
- Jeremiah 39:6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.
- 2 Kings 25:7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 36:20 Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
- Jeremiah 27:12 And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!
- Jeremiah 52:8 but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.
- Ezekiel 14:9 But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
- Ezekiel 43:3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,