Jeremiah 15:12

12 Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?

Jeremiah 15:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 15:12

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
] Can iron break iron, especially that which comes from the north, which was harder than the common iron; or steel, the hardest of all? though the Jews were hard as iron, they could not prevail against and overcome Jeremiah, who was made an iron pillar and brasen walls against them, ( Jeremiah 1:18 ) , and so these words are spoken for his comfort and encouragement: or they may respect the Jews and the Chaldeans; and the sense be, that the Jews, as mighty and as strong as they fancied themselves to be, and boasted that they were, they could not find themselves a match for the Chaldean army, which came out of the north; and may be said to be as hard as the northern iron, which came from the Chalybes, a people in the north, near Pontus, from whom steel has its name in the Latin tongue; and this sense agrees with what follows.

Jeremiah 15:12 In-Context

10 Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.

11 The Lord said: Assuredly, I will set you free and care for you. Assuredly, I will intercede for you in a time of trouble, in your time of distress, with the enemy.

12 Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?

13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without cost, for all your sins, and within all your borders.

14 Then I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.