Jeremiah 15:12

12 No one can smash a piece of iron or bronze that comes from the north.

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 Mother, I am sorry that you gave birth to me since I must accuse and criticize the whole land. I have not loaned or borrowed anything, but everyone curses me.

11 The Lord said, "I have saved you for a good reason. I have made your enemies beg you in times of disaster and trouble.

12 No one can smash a piece of iron or bronze that comes from the north.

13 Your wealth and treasures I will give to others free of charge, because the people of Judah have sinned throughout the country.

14 I will make you slaves to your enemies in a land you have never known. My anger is like a hot fire, and it will burn against you."