Jeremiah 1:13

13 The LORD asked me again, "What do you see?" I said, "A pot boiling over from the north."

Jeremiah 1:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:13

And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time
In the same vision: saying, what seest thou?
besides the almond tree rod; which perhaps was now removed out of sight, and another object appears: and I said, I see a seething pot;
a pot with fire under it, boiling and bubbling up: and the face thereof was towards the north;
either the mouth of the pot where it boiled up, which might be turned to the north in the vision; or that side of the pot, as Kimchi thinks, on which the liquor was poured out; it may be that side of it on which the fire was put to cause it to boil; and so denotes from what quarter the fire came, and was put under it, and the wind that blew it up. The Targum paraphrases the words thus,

``and I said, I see a king boiling as a pot, and the banner of his army, which was brought and came from the north.''

The explanation follows:

Jeremiah 1:13 In-Context

11 The LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "A branch of an almond tree."

12 The LORD then said, "You are right, for I'm watching over my word until it is fulfilled."

13 The LORD asked me again, "What do you see?" I said, "A pot boiling over from the north."

14 The LORD said to me, "Trouble will erupt from the north against the people of this land."

15 I'm calling for all the tribes of great nations from the north, says the LORD, and they will set up their rulers by the entrances of Jerusalem, on its walls, and in every city of Judah.