This is what you are to say to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, what I have built I am going to tear down, and what I have planted I am going to uproot, that is, all the people of the land.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall tell him, Yahweh says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land.
- KJV Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
- BSB Thus Jeremiah was to say to Baruch: “This is what the LORD says: Throughout the land I will demolish what I have built and uproot what I have planted.
- NKJV “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
- NLT “Baruch, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will destroy this nation that I built. I will uproot what I planted.
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
God tells Baruch that He is tearing down and uprooting what He built and planted across the whole land. Baruch must see his trouble against the backdrop of God's larger judgment.
Overview
The Lord redirects Baruch's focus from personal sorrow to the sweeping judgment falling on all Judah. Using the language of building and planting from Jeremiah's call, God explains that He himself is dismantling the nation. This reminder that God's purposes encompass far more than one person's pain teaches servants to find perspective in God's sovereign plan, which culminates in the new creation secured by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 1:10Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
- Jer 18:7–10At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
- Jer 31:28It shall happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 11:17For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.
- Ps 80:8–16You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it.
- Isa 5:2–7He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
- Gen 6:6–7Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
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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 45:4 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.