Jeremiah 1:17

17 But you, you must gird your loins, and stand, and speak to them all that I command you. {Do not be afraid of them},^[a] or I will shatter you {before}^[b] 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, look, I [am] calling to all [the] clans of [the] kingdoms of [the] north," {declares} Yahweh, "and they will come and set each one his throne [at] the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah.

16 And I will pass my judgments on them because of all their wickedness [in] that they have forsaken me, and they made sacrifices to other gods, and they bowed in worship to the works of their hands.

17 But you, you must gird your loins, and stand, and speak to them all that I command you. {Do not be afraid of them}, or I will shatter you {before} them.

18 Now look, I have made you {today} as a fortified city and as an iron pillar and a bronze wall against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

19 And they will fight against you but they will not prevail against you, for I [am] with you," {declares} Yahweh, "to deliver you."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "You must not be filled with terror from the faces of them"
• [b]. Literally "to the faces of"