Jeremiah 1:12

12 The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching[a] to see that my word is fulfilled.”

Jeremiah 1:12 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
English Standard Version (ESV)
12 Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
New Living Translation (NLT)
12 And the LORD said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching, and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
12 And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you. I'll make every word I give you come true."
American Standard Version (ASV)
12 Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
12 Then the LORD said to me, "Right. I am watching to make sure that my words come true."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
12 The Lord said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I watch over My word to accomplish it."
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
12 The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly. I am watching to see that my word comes true."

Jeremiah 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:12

Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen
The thing seen is a very proper emblem of what I am about to do, and the quick dispatch that will be made therein: for l will hasten my word to perform it;
the words (yna dqv) , "shoked ani", "I will hasten", or "I am hastening", are in allusion to (dqv) , "shoked", the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early, and, as it were, hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves, and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and every thing else he should give him in commission to say. Jarchi and Abendana make mention of an ancient Midrash, or exposition, to this sense; that from the time of the almond tree's putting forth, until its fruit is ripe, are one and twenty days, according to the number of days which were between the seventeenth of Tammuz, in which the city was broken up, and the ninth of Ab, in which the temple was burnt; but though the almond tree is the first of trees, and is very early in putting forth, yet there is a greater time than this between its putting forth and its fruit being ripe; for Pliny F19 says, that the almond tree first of all flowers in January, and its fruit is ripe in March.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25.

Jeremiah 1:12 In-Context

10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
11 The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
12 The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”
13 The word of the LORD came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.”
14 The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Job 29:2; Jeremiah 44:27

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The Hebrew for "watching" sounds like the Hebrew for "almond tree."
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