Bible Strands
Jeremiah 38:5
“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Zedekiah addresses the officials who demanded Jeremiah’s execution, acknowledging their authority over the prophet at the moment they act on their demand.
The words — The Hebrew הִנֵּה־ (hi.neh-) and בְּ/יֶדְ/כֶ֑ם (be./yed./Khem) literally render “there!” and “in your hand,” marking the prophet’s physical transfer into the officials’ control.
The thread — The theme of a ruler yielding power to others appears in 2 Samuel 3:39 and 1 Samuel 15:24, while John 19:12 records the crowd’s shouting that pressures authority during a trial.
Why it lands — The text states the king’s inability to intervene, requiring the reader to observe how political fear overrides royal authority and enables the prophet’s imprisonment.
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
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
Cross-references
- John 19:12 From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”
- 2 Samuel 3:39 And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”
- 1 Samuel 15:24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
- 1 Samuel 29:9 Achish replied, “I know that you are as pleasing in my sight as an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go into battle with us.’
- 2 Samuel 19:22 And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?”
- Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high.