The Meaning of Jeremiah 1:10 Explained

Jeremiah 1:10

KJV: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

YLT: See, I have charged thee this day concerning the nations, and concerning the kingdoms, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.'

Darby: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

ASV: see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

See,  I have this day  set  thee over the nations  and over the kingdoms,  to root out,  and to pull down,  and to destroy,  and to throw down,  to build,  and to plant. 

What does Jeremiah 1:10 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The Lord appointed Jeremiah to a position of authority over the nations in the sense that he would announce God"s will for them. He would announce both good news and bad, oracles of judgment and messages of comfort and encouragement. The verbs in this verse anticipate the whole message of this book, as one might expect in an introduction. [1] Four of them are destructive, and only two are constructive, reflecting the predominantly negative emphasis of Jeremiah"s ministry. The Lord compared Jeremiah"s work to that of two types of workers: a farmer and an architect.
"This is a paradigm of the spiritual life, for God has first to remove the sin before the sinner can begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians 4:15; 2 Peter 3:18)." [2]
". . . the Bible gives us a realistic message that Jeremiah preached into his own days, a message I am convinced the church today must preach if it is to be any help in the post-Christian world." [3]
"First, we may say that there is a time, and ours is such a time, when a negative message is needed before anything positive can begin. There must first be the message of judgment, the tearing down. There are times, and Jeremiah"s day and ours are such times, when we cannot expect a constructive revolution if we begin by overemphasizing the positive message....
Second, with love we must face squarely the fact that our culture really is under the judgment of God. We must not heal the sickness lightly. We must emphasize the reality." [3]8
"What we are is God"s gift to us; what we do with it is our gift to Him." [5]

Context Summary

Jeremiah 1:1-19 - Courage Promised To A Fearful Messenger
God has a distinct purpose for each life, and our one aim should be to discover and work out His plan. See Psalms 139:16; Galatians 1:15. The sanctification here referred to applies to office rather than to character, and means set apart. See John 17:19. Jeremiah was very young, and shrank from the responsibility of the great mission entrusted to him. Thus it has been with the noblest, Exodus 4:10. But that is godly fear indeed which casts us back on God. He never gives a commission without assuming the responsibility of its execution in, and with, or through, us. Powers of utterance are specially His gift, Isaiah 6:7; Acts 6:10; 1 Corinthians 1:5. The almond tree in Hebrew is the wakeful tree. It awakes from the winter sleep earlier than others, flowering in January and fruiting in March. It indicated the swiftness of God's movement. The boiling pot is the symbol of war. The promises of Jeremiah 1:18-19 are very precious to all who are called to stand in the breach and charge men with their sins. [source]

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 1

1  The time
4  And the calling of Jeremiah
11  His prophetical visions of an almond rod and a seething pot
15  His heavy message against Judah
17  God encourages him with his promise of assistance

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 1:10 mean?

See I have set you day this over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant -
רְאֵ֞ה הִפְקַדְתִּ֣יךָ ׀ הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֗ה עַל־ הַגּוֹיִם֙ וְעַל־ הַמַּמְלָכ֔וֹת לִנְת֥וֹשׁ וְלִנְת֖וֹץ וּלְהַאֲבִ֣יד וְלַהֲר֑וֹס לִבְנ֖וֹת וְלִנְטֽוֹעַ פ

רְאֵ֞ה  See 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.
הִפְקַדְתִּ֣יךָ ׀  I  have  set  you 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, first person common singular, second person masculine singular
Root: פָּקַד 
Sense: to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for.
הַיּ֣וֹם  day 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
הַזֶּ֗ה  this 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, masculine singular
Root: זֶה  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, another, such.
עַל־  over 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
הַגּוֹיִם֙  the  nations 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: גֹּוי 
Sense: nation, people.
וְעַל־  and  over 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
הַמַּמְלָכ֔וֹת  the  kingdoms 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine plural
Root: מַמְלָכָה  
Sense: kingdom, dominion, reign, sovereignty.
לִנְת֥וֹשׁ  to  root  out 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: נָתַשׁ  
Sense: to pull up, expel, root out, pluck up.
וְלִנְת֖וֹץ  and  to  pull  down 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: נָתַץ  
Sense: to pull down, break down, cast down, throw down, beat down, destroy, overthrow, break out (teeth).
וּלְהַאֲבִ֣יד  and  to  destroy 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Verb, Hifil, Infinitive construct
Root: אָבַד  
Sense: perish, vanish, go astray, be destroyed.
וְלַהֲר֑וֹס  and  to  throw  down 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: הָרַס  
Sense: to tear down, break down, overthrow, beat down, break, break through, destroy, pluck down, pull down, throw down, ruined, destroyer, utterly.
לִבְנ֖וֹת  to  build 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: בָּנָה  
Sense: to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue.
וְלִנְטֽוֹעַ  and  to  plant 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: נָטַע  
Sense: to plant, fasten, fix, establish.
פ  - 
Parse: Punctuation