Jeremiah 13:18

18 Say you to the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses are come down, even the crown of your glory.

Jeremiah 13:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 13:18

Say unto the king, and to the queen
Jehoiachin, and his mother Nehushta, as it is generally interpreted by the Jewish commentators, and others; who, with many princes and officers, were carried captive into Babylon, ( 2 Kings 24:12-15 ) or rather Zedekiah and his wife; since the captivity after threatened is a perfect and complete one, which Jehoiachin's was not: humble yourselves, sit down;
or, "sit down humbled" F4; come down from your thrones, and sit in the dust; humble yourselves before the Lord for your own sins, and the sins of the people; in times of general corruption, and which threatens a nation with ruin, it becomes kings and princes to set an example of repentance, humiliation, and reformation; though it may be this is rather a prediction of what would be, that they should descend from their throne, and lose their grandeur, and be in a low and abject condition, than an exhortation to what was their duty; since it follows: for your principalities shall come down;
their royal state and greatness, and all the ensigns of it; and especially such as they had upon their heads, as the word used denotes, and as the following explanation shows: even the crown of your glory;
or glorious crown, which should fall from their heads, or be taken from them, when they should be no more served in state, or treated as crowned heads.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (wbv wlypvh) "degite humiliter", Castalio; "abjectissime considite", Junius & Tremellius; "loco humili considite", Piscator

Jeremiah 13:18 In-Context

16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is taken captive.
18 Say you to the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses are come down, even the crown of your glory.
19 The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Yehudah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.