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12. Shall iron. Various interpretations have been given of this “iron” in its relationship to the stronger “northern” iron:

1. It was God’s way of indicating that Jeremiah’s prayer, however strong in intercession (see chs. 14:7-9; 19-22), could not change the divine purpose to punish the people for their transgressions.

2. It was a representation of Judah’s inability to resist the “northern iron” of the Chaldeans’ all-conquering strength.

3. It represented the weakness of Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt in the south, upon whom the Israelites counted to check the Babylonian advance, as compared with the military might of Nebuchadnezzar invading from the north.

4. It represented the lack of power on the part of the enemies of Jeremiah to withstand the prophet’s divine commission, which power is likened to the harder “northern iron.”

5. It represented Jeremiah’s impotence to overcome the confirmed and obdurate evil of the people who had the hardness of “northern iron.”

Steel. Heb. nechosheth, “copper,” or “bronze.”