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11 The word of the Lord came to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? “I see a branch of the almond tree,”[a] I replied. 12 Then the Lord said to me: You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to carry it out. 13 (A)A second time the word of the Lord came to me: What do you see? I replied, “I see a boiling kettle whose mouth is tipped away from the north.”[b]

14 The Lord said to me, And from the north evil will pour out over all who dwell in the land.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:11 There is wordplay between the Hebrew noun shaqed, “almond tree,” and the Hebrew verb shoqed, “watcher/watching.” Because the almond tree begins to bloom in late winter in Palestine, it is called “the watcher” for the coming of spring. God is also “watcher,” observing the fulfillment of the prophetic word.
  2. 1:13 Kettle…the north: symbol of an invasion from the north; cf. vv. 14–15.