Jeremiah 1:17

17 You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

Jeremiah 1:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:17

Thou therefore gird up thy loins
The loins both of his mind and body. The allusion is to the custom of the eastern countries in wearing long garments, who, when they went about business, girt them about them for quicker dispatch; and here it designs haste and expedition in doing the Lord's work, as well as courage and resolution of mind: and arise;
and go from Anathoth to Jerusalem: and speak unto them all that I command thee; (See Gill on Jeremiah 1:7), be not dismayed at their faces; (See Gill on Jeremiah 1:8), lest I confound thee before them;
show resentment at him in some way or another, which would make him ashamed before them. The Septuagint and Arabic versions add, "for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord", as in ( Jeremiah 1:8 ) .

Jeremiah 1:17 In-Context

15 For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of Yerushalayim, and against all the walls of it round about, and against all the cities of Yehudah.
16 I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17 You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.
18 For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Yehudah, against the princes of it, against the Kohanim of it, and against the people of the land.
19 They shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.