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Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
Jeremiah 13:18 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses have come down, even the crown of your glory.
  • BSB Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”
  • NKJV Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
  • NASB Say to the king and the queen mother, “Take a lowly seat, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your head.”
  • NLT Say to the king and his mother, “Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns will soon be snatched from your heads.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Jeremiah tells the king and queen mother to humble themselves, for their crowns will fall.

Overview

Even the royal house is summoned to humility as their reign faces collapse. The fallen crown symbolizes the end of their glory and authority through judgment. This likely refers to Jehoiachin and his mother, carried into exile, showing that no earthly throne stands secure against God's word.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Jer 22:26And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
  • 2 Kgs 24:12And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
  • 2 Kgs 24:15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
  • 2 Chr 33:19His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.
  • 2 Chr 33:12And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
  • Isa 47:1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
  • Exod 10:3And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
  • 2 Chr 33:23And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
  • 1 Pet 5:6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
  • Isa 3:26And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
  • Matt 18:4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
  • Jonah 3:6For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
  • Jas 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
  • Ezek 19:2–14And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
  • Lam 2:10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 13:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.

How Jeremiah 13:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.