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.”
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.
- KJV Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall 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.”
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 22:26I will cast you out with your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you will 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 captured him in the eighth year of his reign.
- 2 Kgs 24:15He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land. He carried them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
- 2 Chr 33:19His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
- 2 Chr 33:12When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
- Isa 47:1“Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
- Exod 10:3Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
- 2 Chr 33:23He didn’t humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same 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 3:26Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
- Matt 18:4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Jonah 3:6The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
- Jas 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
- Ezek 19:2–14and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
- Lam 2:10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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.