Jeremiah 15 · Verse 12

Jeremiah 15:12

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Jeremiah 15:12, King James Version

Jeremiah 15:12 in other translations

BSBCan anyone smash iron— iron from the north—or bronze?
WEBCan one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze?
ASVCan one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
YLTDoth one break iron--northern iron, and brass?
DARBYWill iron break? iron from the north? and bronze?
BBEIs it possible for iron to be broken; even iron from the north, and brass?
WebsterShall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

What does Jeremiah 15:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
12. steel--rather, brass or copper, which mixed with "iron" (by the Chalybes near the Euxine Pontus, far north of Palestine), formed the hardest metal, like our steel. Can the Jews, hardy like common iron though they be, break the still hardier Chaldees of the north (Jr 1:14), who resemble the Chalybian iron hardened with copper? Certainly not [Calvin]. Henderson translates. "Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass," on the ground that English Version makes ordinary iron not so hard as brass. But it is not brass, but a particular mixture of iron and brass, which is represented as harder than common iron, which was probably then of inferior texture, owing to ignorance of modern modes of preparation.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? - Shall our weak forces be able to oppose and overcome the powers of the Chaldeans? נחשת nechasheth, which we here translate steel, property signifies brass or copper united with tin, which gives it much hardness, and enables it to bear a good edge.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 15:10-14

Jeremiah met with much contempt and reproach, when they ought to have blessed him, and God for him. It is a great and sufficient support to the people of God, that however troublesome their way may be, it shall be well with them in their latter end. God turns to the people. Shall the most hardy and vigorous of their efforts be able to contend with the counsel of God, or with the army of the Chaldeans? Let them hear…

Read the full comment on Jeremiah 15:10-14 →

Jeremiah 15:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֲיָרֹ֨עַha.ya.Ro.a'¿ will it breakH7489
בַּרְזֶ֧ל\׀bar.ZelironH1270
בַּרְזֶ֛לbar.ZelironH1270
מִצָּפ֖וֹןmi.tza.Fonfrom [the] northH6828
וּנְחֹֽשֶׁת\׃u.ne.Cho.shetand bronzeH5178

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 15:12

  • Habakkuk 1:5-10

    Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. …

  • Job 40:9

    Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

  • Jeremiah 21:4-5

    Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

  • Isaiah 45:9

    Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

  • Jeremiah 1:18-19

    For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

  • Jeremiah 28:14

    For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Shall iron.
1:18,19; 21:4,5; Job 40:9; Isa 45:9; Hab 1:5-10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 15:11

    The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

  • Jeremiah 15:12

    Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

  • Jeremiah 15:13

    Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

Read all of Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 15:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Quebrará el hierro al hierro de la parte de aquilón, y al bronce?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Le fer se brisera-t-il, le fer du nord et l’airain? –
German
Elberfelder 1871		Kann man Eisen, Eisen aus Norden, und Erz zerbrechen?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Numquid fœderabitur ferrum ferro ab aquilone, et æs?