What Does Jeremiah 21:10 Mean?
For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, says the LORD. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.THE KEY
The verse makes judgment a chain of movement: a face turns against the city, the city is placed in another hand, and fire follows.
THE MEANING
You are shown a city whose future is no longer described as protected: it is placed in a king’s hand and burned with fire. The direction is named plainly as harm rather than good, and the verse does not soften what that means.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine action always means immediate protection: this verse explicitly names harm, loss of control, and fire.
THE ROOT
פָּנַי
panay
GROWS FROM
פנה
panah
turn; turn toward, face
The phrase joins face with turning: the face is presence directed somewhere. Set against the city, that orientation is followed by the concrete acts of handover and fire.
ALSO GROWS
panim: face, presence, front
פָּנִים
The word for face can carry the sense of presence, so setting the face marks an oriented presence, not just a passing expression.
panah: turn, turn toward
פָּנָה
This verb makes the direction in “set my face against” visible: the face is turned toward a specific outcome.
תִּנָּתֵן
tinnāten
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
give, set, place
“given” in this verse is tinnāten. The city’s fate is phrased as a transfer: it is placed in the king’s hand. The same root joins giving with placing, while the context makes this handover an act of defeat.
ALSO GROWS
natan: give, set, place
נָתַן
The source verb joins transfer with placement: what is given is put somewhere.
mattanah: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This related word shows the root’s giving sense; here, the recipient, the king’s hand, makes the transfer coercive rather than benevolent.
THE PATTERN
Judgment against a city becomes material through siege, transfer, and fire.
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. Look, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.And I will set my face against them; from the fire they will go out, and the fire will eat them; and you will perceive that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.For days will come upon you, when your enemies will drive stakes around you, and surround you, and press you in on every side.THE THREAD
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. Look, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.Jeremiah 44:11 repeats the same face and harm-language, making the pairing visible: opposition is an orientation, and harm names its direction. This echo opens Jeremiah 21:10 as a deliberate declaration whose outcome is then spelled out in the king’s hand and fire.
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