What Does Jeremiah 32:28 Mean?

Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.

Jeremiah 32:28 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:

THE KEY

The city is deliberately placed into the conqueror’s hand before he takes it.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you with the terrible moment when a city is placed into a conquering power’s reach. God’s speech declares the handover plainly, and Nebuchadnezzar takes it; the violence is not softened or turned into metaphor.

THE ROOT

נֹתֵן

noten

GROWS FROM

נתן

give, set, place

The root ⁨נתן⁩ (nathan), “give, set, place,” carries more than a transfer: it can describe placing something into another’s possession. Here the city is set into the conqueror’s hand, and the king takes what has been placed there.

ALSO GROWS

mattanah: gift

מַתָּנָה

A gift is something given; this branch shows the root can name both the act of giving and what is placed into another’s possession.

natun: given, set, placed

נָתוּן

This form describes something as placed or assigned, bringing the city’s transfer into focus as an act of placement.

THE PATTERN

To be placed into a hand is to be placed within that power’s reach and rule.

He gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

Psalm 106:41 · SDVBeing given into a hand means coming under the rule of the power that holds it.

Therefore God gave them over in the cravings of their hearts into uncleanness, for their bodies to be made weightless among themselves.

Romans 1:24 · SDVHere giving takes the form of being handed over to a power that brings harm.

THE THREAD

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.

Jeremiah 21:10 · SDV

“Given” here comes from the same root ⁨נתן⁩ (nathan), “give, set, place.” This verse names the handover’s consequence plainly: the king burns the city.

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