Limitless Word
And afterward,” says the Lord, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’
Jeremiah 21:7 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Afterward,” says Yahweh, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.”’
  • KJV And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
  • BSB ‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’
  • NASB Then afterward,” declares the Lord, “I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, that is, those who survive in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to their enemies, and to those who seek their lives; and he will strike and kill them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.” ’
  • NLT And after all that, says the Lord, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff, and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, war, and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity, or compassion.’

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

Survivors, including Zedekiah, will be handed over to Nebuchadnezzar, who will show no mercy. There is no escaping the appointed judgment.

Overview

God declares that even those who survive plague, sword, and famine will fall into the hands of Babylon's king, who will spare none. The repeated denial of pity, mercy, and sparing emphasizes the finality of the sentence on an impenitent people. This historical fulfillment, when Zedekiah was captured and blinded, shows that God's warnings are not idle, and it magnifies the wonder of the mercy ultimately offered in Christ to all who repent.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Jer 37:17then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from Yahweh?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He said also, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
  • Hab 1:6–10For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
  • 2 Kgs 25:5–7But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
  • Ezek 7:9My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will bring on you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you; and you will know that I, Yahweh, strike.
  • Ezek 17:20–21I will spread my net on him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.
  • Jer 52:8–11but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
  • Deut 28:50a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young,
  • Jer 13:14I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says Yahweh: “I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.”’”
  • 2 Kgs 25:18–21The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;
  • 2 Chr 36:17–20Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
  • Ezek 9:10As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
  • Jer 34:19–22the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;
  • Jer 52:24–27The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:
  • Ezek 9:5–6To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity.
  • Isa 47:6I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
  • Ezek 8:18Therefore will I also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”
  • Isa 13:17–18Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
  • Ezek 12:12–16“‘The prince who is among them will bear on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes.
  • Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
  • Jer 39:4–7When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
  • Jer 38:21–23But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me:
  • Jer 24:8–10“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely Yahweh says, ‘So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
  • Ezek 21:25–26“‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 21:7YouTube · 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 21:7 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.