Jeremiah 1:13

13 Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us 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 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

12 “You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”

13 Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”

14 Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land.

15 For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.