Jeremiah 45:5

But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I will bring disaster on every living creature, declares the LORD, but wherever you go, I will grant your life as a spoil of war.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to Baruch during a period of national collapse, directly responding to Baruch’s personal anxieties after the declaration of coming demolition and uprooting.

The words — תְּבַקֶּשׁ (te.va.kesh) and תְּבַקֵּשׁ (te.va.Kesh) both derive from the root H1245, literally meaning "you are seeking" and "you seek," framing the command to cease pursuing personal ambition.

The thread — The warning against self-seeking aligns with the promise of preservation in Jeremiah 39:18 and echoes the New Testament injunctions against greed and for contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6 and Hebrews 13:5.

Why it lands — The text commands the cessation of personal ambition by contrasting it with divine judgment on all flesh, while simultaneously guaranteeing Baruch’s physical survival regardless of the surrounding catastrophe.

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 seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 39:18 For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.’”
1 Timothy 6:6 Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Jeremiah 21:9 Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.
Jeremiah 25:26 all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.
Genesis 6:12 And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.
2 Kings 5:26 But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?
Jeremiah 38:2 “This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.