“ ‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘This will be the sign to you,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’
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And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
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And this shall be the sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil;
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 44:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 19:21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
- Matthew 24:15-16 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
- Jeremiah 44:30 Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.’ ”
- 1 Samuel 2:34 This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
- Matthew 24:32-34 “Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near. Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.
- Mark 13:14-16 But when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.
- Luke 21:20-21 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein.
- Luke 21:29-33 He told them a parable. “See the fig tree and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see it and know by your own selves that the summer is already near. Even so you also, when you see these things happening, know that God’s Kingdom is near. Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things are accomplished. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Jeremiah seals his prophecy by adding a sign which…
Jeremiah seals his prophecy by adding a sign which yet was to be coincident with it. It was not then, as they say, a premonstrative sign. And doubtless the Jews were wholly unworthy that God should shew them anything extraordinary; but this sign was only added, that they might know that they in vain trusted in the protection of Egypt, and also that every excuse might be taken away.
This brief notice may perhaps be obscure. We shall therefore refer to a distinction that exists: some signs precede the time and order of things, but others are connected with the events themselves. The signs which precede events avail to prepare the minds of the faithful, so that they may not doubt but that God will do what he has promised, as when Gideon sought a sign from God, and it was granted to him; the ground was wet with dew, while the fleece remained dry; and then the fleece remained dry when the ground was wet. (Judges 6:36-40.) By this sign Gideon was encouraged to proceed in his course, when before doubt made him inert Gideon was torpid, but when he saw by this miracle that victory would be given him, he boldly undertook the work assigned to him. The greatest portion of signs are of this kind. But there are other signs which do not precede events, but shew that when the time is fulfilled the events have been truly predicted, as when God said to Moses,
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“This sign I give thee, that after ye have come out of Egypt ye shall sacrifice to me in this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)
Neither Moses nor the people could know anything by that sign before they had departed from Egypt. But after they were delivered they there gave thanks on the third day to God their Redeemer.
Hence signs refer sometimes to past time, and sometimes to what is future. Those which refer to the future are such as we call premonstrative, as the case was with Gideon, who took up arms with alacrity, because he knew that he was fighting under God’s banner; and he was fully persuaded of a victory when he understood that God would be his leader.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 44:29 And this [shall be] a sign unto…
Jer 44:29 And this [shall be] a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
Ver. 29. That I will punish you in this place.] Which you looked upon as a place of surest security and safeguard, and would not hearken to me opening my bounties bosom to you at home.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, but…
Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, but the word is taken in a larger notion in this place, for that which should attend the thing signified by it, as Exo 3:12; besides, though their destruction and the destruction of Pharaoh-hophra were things immediately following one another, yet the latter was in order before the other.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And this shall be a sign unto you, saith…
And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place,.... In Egypt, as before threatened; and what follows is a confirming sign that so it would be; and which, when observed by some, gave the hint to them to make their escape; though others, being hardened in their idolatry, impenitence, and unbelief, continued, and perished:
that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil; which sign, when they should see, they might assure themselves that the threatenings of evil to them would certainly be accomplished, as sure as they saw the sign given, which is as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain This shall be a sign - Signs are usually…
This shall be a sign - Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, but the word is taken in a larger notion in this place for that which should attend the thing signified by it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 44:29-30. And this shall be a sign unto…
Jer 44:29-30. And this shall be a sign unto you — Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, as Isa 38:7; but here, as Exo 3:12, Isa 37:30, and Luk 2:12, the word is taken, in a larger sense, for a circumstance that should attend the thing signified. It may be observed, however, that although the destruction of these Jews, and that of Pharaoh, were things immediately following each other, yet the latter was in order before the other. I will give Pharaoh-hophra into the hand of his enemies — Pharaoh was a name common, in ancient times, to all the kings of Egypt; but several of them had some additional epithet to distinguish them from the rest. Thus the predecessor of this king was called Pharaoh- nechoh, 2Ki 23:29. This Pharaoh-hophra appears to have been the same that is called by profane authors Apries; and his unfortunate end, in exact conformity with this prediction, is particularly related by Herodotus, lib. 2. cap. 169, and by Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1. p. 43. “His subjects rebelling, he sent Amasis, one of his generals, to reduce them to their duty; but no sooner had Amasis begun to make his speech than they fixed a helmet on his head, and proclaimed him king. Amasis accepted the title, and confirmed the Egyptians in their rebellion; and the greater part of the nation declaring for him, Apries was obliged to retire into Upper Egypt; and the country, being thus weakened by intestine war, was attacked and easily overcome by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on quitting it, left Amasis his viceroy. After Nebuchadnezzar’s departure, Apries marched against Amasis, but, being defeated at Memphis, was taken prisoner, carried to Sais, and strangled in his own palace; thus verifying this prophecy.” See Rollin’s Ancient Hist., vol. 1., and Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, vol. 1. p. 362.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain this . . . sign unto you--The calamity of…
this . . . sign unto you--The calamity of Pharaoh-hophra (see on Jer 44:30) shall be a sign to you that as he shall fall before his enemy, so you shall subsequently fall before Nebuchadnezzar (Mat 24:8) [GROTIUS]. CALVIN makes the "sign" to be simultaneous with the event signified, not antecedent to it, as in Exo 3:12. The Jews believed Egypt impregnable, so shut in was it by natural barriers. The Jews being "punished in this place" will be a sign that their view is false, and God's threat true. He calls it "a sign unto you," because God's prediction is equivalent to the event, so that they may even now take it as a sign. When fulfilled it would cease to be a sign to them: for they would be dead.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 29, 30. This shall be a sign… I will…
29, 30. This shall be a sign… I will give Pharaoh-hophra, etc. — This monarch succeeded to the Egyptian throne the year before the capture of Jerusalem. He reigned nineteen years. Finally a rebellion occurred on account of his defeat by the Cyrenians, and the suspicion that he had betrayed the native troops in order to establish his personal ascendency by means of his mercenaries. Amasis commanded the Egyptians and Hophra the Greek mercenaries. The latter was defeated and taken prisoner, and, after being kept some time in confinement, he was given up to his enemies, who put him to death by strangling.
Some expositors have objected to the genuineness of the passage, Jer_44:29-30, on internal grounds: 1) That the fulfilment is too exact. 2) That it is too remote. 3) That the style is dead and mechanical. 4) There is no other such sign in Jeremiah. But there is little force in any of these considerations, while the last is evidently in favour of the genuineness of the passage. If there is nothing like it, it is not likely to be an interpolation. As to the objection that the fulfilment was too distant to be a sign to those to whom Jeremiah spoke, we have to say: (a) To be a sign it need not be immediate. Its value as such is increased rather than diminished by the lapse of time. (b) But its fulfilment began within possibly six or eight years. Hophra had now been two years on the throne. It has been estimated that he was ten years a prisoner. His death occurred nineteen years after he became king.
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Some difficulty has been experienced by Nagelsbach in reconciling the apparent teaching of this chapter, that the Jews in Egypt should be utterly exterminated, with the fact that in the time of Alexander they were very numerous, and Ptolemy Philadelphus at one time liberated 100,000 Jewish slaves. In reply: 1) This chapter denounces extermination against such Jews only as at that time went down to Egypt contrary to the command of God, and persisted in their idolatry. Those who were there before, those who came after, (and Ptolemy I., about 320 B.C., captured Jerusalem on a sabbath day, took a great number of captives, and carried them down into Egypt,) and those who maintained the worship of Jehovah, are excluded from the judgments denounced in this chapter. 2) There is no proof that at the time of Alexander the Jews in Egypt were very numerous. 3) Centuries of time provide for great increase, not only by propagation, but also by immigration.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. And this shall be the sign] It has…
29. And this shall be the sign] It has been inferred, but unnecessarily, from the close correspondence of these vv. with the above piece of history that these two verses are an interpolation made after the event. Pharaoh Hophra (the Greek Apries) reigned from b.c. 589 to c. 570, when he was overthrown by the troops whom he had sent against Cyrene, and who had mutinied (Herod. II. 152 ff.). Amasis succeeded him and handed him over to the Egyptians, who strangled him seven years later (Herod. II. 161–163, 169).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A sign; rather, the sign.
A sign; rather, the sign.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 this is Yahweh's declaration
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
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I am setting against you
This is an idiom. AT: "I am opposed to you" (See: Idiom)
my words will certainly attack you with disaster
Yahweh causing disaster on the people as he promised is spoken of as if his word would attack them. AT: "what I have said will happen and you will have a disaster" (See: Personification)
Look
"Listen" or "Pay attention"
I am about to give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek to kill him
Here "hand" represents power or control. AT: "I will allow the enemies who want to kill Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, to defeat him" (See: Metonymy)
Hophra
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
when I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life
Here "hand" represents power or control. And, Nebuchadnezzar represents his whole army. The phrase "sought his life" is an idiom that means to want to kill someone. AT: "when I allowed the army of Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Zedekiah king of Judah" (See: Metonymy and Idiom)
translationWords
sign
declare
Pharaoh
hand
adversary
Zedekiah
king
Judah
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.