Jeremiah 1:17

17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence: for I will make thee not to fear their countenance.

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 behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord: and they shall come, and shall set every one his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all the walls thereof round about, and upon all the cities of Juda.

16 And I will pronounce my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods, and have adored the work of their own hands.

17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence: for I will make thee not to fear their countenance.

18 For behold I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, over all the land, to the kings of Juda, to the princes thereof, and to the priests, and to the people of the land.

19 And they shall fight against them, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.