Jeremiah 38:5

Christian Standard Bible ®

King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he’s in your hands since the king can’t do anything against you.”

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Tzidkiyahu the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.

King James Version
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

English Standard Version
King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you."

New American Standard Bible
And King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

New Century Version
King Zedekiah said to them, "Jeremiah is in your control. I cannot do anything to stop you."

Amplified Bible
Then King Zedekiah [fearing the princes] said, "Listen, he is in your hand; for the king is in no position to do anything against you."

World English Bible
Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Zedekiah the King sayd, Behold, he is in your hands, for ye King can denie you nothing.

Legacy Standard Bible
So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

Berean Standard Bible
"Here he is," replied King Zedekiah. "He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you."

Contemporary English Version
Zedekiah replied, "Do what you want with him. I can't stop you."

Complete Jewish Bible
Tzidkiyahu the king said, "All right, he is in your hands; for the king can't prevent you from doing as you please."

Darby Translation
And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.

Easy-to-Read Version
So King Zedekiah said to the officials, "Jeremiah is in your control. I cannot do anything to stop you."

George Lamsa Translation
Then King Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hands; for the king cannot say anything to you.

Good News Translation
King Zedekiah answered, "Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you."

Lexham English Bible
And Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you."

Literal Translation
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand. For the king cannot do anything against you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Sedechias the kinge answered and sayde: lo, he is in yor hodes, for ye kige maye denye you nothinge.

American Standard Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.

Bible in Basic English
Then Zedekiah the king said, See, he is in your hands: for the king was not able to do anything against them.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then Zedekiah the king said: 'Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.'

King James Version (1611)
Then Zedekiah the king sayd, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Zedekia the kyng aunswered, and sayde, Lo, he is in your handes: for the kyng may denie you nothyng.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.

English Revised Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And kyng Sedechie seide, Lo! he is in youre hondis, for it is not leueful that the kyng denye ony thing to you.

Update Bible Version
And Zedekiah the king said, Look, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he [is] in your hand: for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you.

New English Translation
King Zedekiah said to them, "Very well, you can do what you want with him. For I cannot do anything to stop you."

New King James Version
Then Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you."

New Living Translation
King Zedekiah agreed. "All right," he said. "Do as you like. I can't stop you."

New Life Bible
So King Zedekiah said, "He is in your hands. The king can do nothing against you."

New Revised Standard
King Zedekiah said, "Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless against you."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said King Zedekiah, - Lo! he is in your hand; for the king is not one who is able to do anything against you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not lawful for the king to deny you any thing.

Revised Standard Version
King Zedeki'ah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

Young's Literal Translation
And the king Zedekiah saith, `Lo, he [is] in your hand: for the king is not able for you [in] anything.'

THE MESSAGE
King Zedekiah caved in: "If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You're too much for me."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

Contextual Overview

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people: ²“This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will retain his life like the spoils of war and will live.’ ³This is what the Lord says: ‘This city will most certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon’s army, and he will capture it.’” ⁴The officials then said to the king, “This man ought to die, because he is weakening the morale of the warriors who remain in this city and of all the people by speaking to them in this way. This man is not pursuing the welfare of this people, but their harm.” ⁵King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he’s in your hands since the king can’t do anything against you.” ⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud. ⁷But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official in the king’s palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate, ⁸Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king: ⁹“My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here thirty men under your authority and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.”

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for: 1 Samuel 15:24, 1 Samuel 29:9, 2 Samuel 3:39, 2 Samuel 19:22, Proverbs 29:25, John 19:12-16

Reciprocal: Genesis 16:6 - in Exodus 23:2 - to decline Joshua 9:25 - we are Job 1:12 - power Job 31:34 - Did I Jeremiah 26:14 - As for Jeremiah 37:17 - asked Jeremiah 38:19 - I Daniel 6:16 - the king

Cross-References

Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

Genesis 38:26
Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

Genesis 46:12
Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

Numbers 26:20
Judah’s descendants by their clans:

1 Chronicles 4:21
The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, the families of the guild of linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Zedekiah the king said, behold, he [is] in your hand,.... In your power, to do with him as you please. This is either a grant of the king, allowing them to do as they thought fit; or a declaration of their power, supposing them to be the princes of the sanhedrim, as Grotius thinks, to judge of a false prophet, and condemn him; but that they were such does not appear; nor does their charge of the prophet, or their procedure against him, confirm it. The former sense seems best:

for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you; which is said either in a flattering way, that such was their interest in him, and so great his regard for them, that he could not deny them any thing. So it is in the old translations, "for the king may deny you nothing"; and, "the king can deny you nothing": or else in a complaining way, suggesting that, he was a king, and no king; that he had no power to oppose them; they would do as they pleased; and therefore it signified nothing applying to him; he should not say any thing against it; he would have no concern in it; they might do as they pleased, since he knew they would.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All real power was in their hands, and as they affirmed that Jeremiah’s death was a matter of necessity, the king did not dare refuse it to them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:5. He is in your hand — Ye have power to do as you please; I must act by your counsel. Poor weak prince! you respect the prophet, you fear the cabal, and you sacrifice an innocent man to your own weakness and their malice!