The Meaning of Jeremiah 16:10 Explained

Jeremiah 16:10

KJV: And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

YLT: And it hath come to pass when thou declarest to this people all these words, and they have said unto thee, 'For what hath Jehovah spoken against us all this great evil? yea, what is our iniquity, and what our sin, that we have sinned against Jehovah our God?'

Darby: And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt declare unto this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? and what is our iniquity? and what is our sin which we have committed against Jehovah our God?

ASV: And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew  this people  all these words,  and they shall say  unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD  pronounced  all this great  evil  against us? or what [is] our iniquity?  or what [is] our sin  that we have committed  against the LORD  our God? 

What does Jeremiah 16:10 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The Lord prepared Jeremiah for questions that the people would ask him. They would wonder what they had done to deserve the great calamity that the prophet predicted. They had become blind to the sinfulness of their ways (cf. Malachi 1:6-7; Malachi 2:17; Malachi 3:7-8; Malachi 3:13).

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 16

1  The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage,
8  from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshows the utter ruin of the Jews;
10  because they were worse than their fathers
14  Their return from captivity shall be stranger than their deliverance out of Egypt
16  God will doubly recompense their idolatry

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 16:10 mean?

And it shall be when you show people this - all words these and they say to you why for what has pronounced Yahweh against us disaster great this Or what [is] our iniquity our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God
וְהָיָ֗ה כִּ֤י תַגִּיד֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה אֵ֥ת כָּל־ הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה וְאָמְר֣וּ אֵלֶ֗יךָ עַל־ מֶה֩ דִבֶּ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙ הָרָעָ֤ה הַגְּדוֹלָה֙ הַזֹּ֔את וּמֶ֤ה ؟ עֲוֺנֵ֙נוּ֙ חַטָּאתֵ֔נוּ אֲשֶׁ֥ר חָטָ֖אנוּ לַֽיהוָ֥ה ؟ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ

וְהָיָ֗ה  And  it  shall  be 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
תַגִּיד֙  you  show 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: נָגַד  
Sense: to be conspicuous, tell, make known.
לָעָ֣ם  people 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
הַזֶּ֔ה  this 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, masculine singular
Root: זֶה  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, another, such.
אֵ֥ת  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
הַדְּבָרִ֖ים  words 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
הָאֵ֑לֶּה  these 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, common plural
Root: אֵהֶל 
Sense: these.
וְאָמְר֣וּ  and  they  say 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
אֵלֶ֗יךָ  to  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
עַל־  why 
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.
מֶה֩  for  what 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
דִבֶּ֨ר  has  pronounced 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
יְהוָ֤ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙  against  us 
Parse: Preposition, first person common plural
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.
הָרָעָ֤ה  disaster 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.
הַגְּדוֹלָה֙  great 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: גָּבֹול 
Sense: great.
הַזֹּ֔את  this 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
וּמֶ֤ה  Or  what  [is] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
؟ עֲוֺנֵ֙נוּ֙  our  iniquity 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, first person common plural
Root: עָוֹן  
Sense: perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity.
חַטָּאתֵ֔נוּ  our  sin 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common plural
Root: חַטָּאָה 
Sense: sin, sinful.
אֲשֶׁ֥ר  that 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
חָטָ֖אנוּ  we  have  committed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common plural
Root: חָטָא 
Sense: to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness.
לַֽיהוָ֥ה  against  Yahweh 
Parse: Preposition-l, Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
؟ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ  our  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).