Jeremiah 6:11

But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through Jeremiah to a rebellious audience whose ears are closed to His warning. The declaration occurs immediately after the prophet notes the people's refusal to listen and their active disgust toward the word of the LORD.

The words — חֲמַת יְהוָה (Chamat Yahweh) translates as "the rage of Yahweh," paired with מָלֵאתִי (maleti) for "I am full" and נִלְאֵיתִי (nil'eti) for "I am weary." These terms describe a prophet burdened by divine wrath that he can no longer restrain.

The thread — The imagery of uncontainable divine judgment and intergenerational slaughter appears in Jeremiah 9:21, where death enters homes and cuts off children from the streets. The compulsion to speak under pressure echoes the prophet’s experience in Jeremiah 20:9 and the spirit-driven speech described in Job 32:18.

Why it lands — The text commands the pouring out of wrath on children, young men, and the elderly, followed by the capture of husbands, wives, and the aged. It demands recognition that divine judgment bypasses age and social status, leaving no room for evasion or comfort.

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

Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 9:21 For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
Job 32:18 For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.
Micah 3:8 As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Ezekiel 3:14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.
Ezekiel 9:6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
Luke 17:34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left.
Acts 4:20 For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”