Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.

JEREMIAH 44:28KJV
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Jeremiah 44:28 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 44:28 mean?

Jeremiah 44:28 says that only a small number of the people of Judah living in Egypt will escape death in war and return home. Their experience will show whether God’s warning or the people’s opposing claims prove true.

God is speaking through Jeremiah to the people who went to Egypt after Jerusalem’s fall. The phrase “whose words shall stand” pictures a test: events will show whose words hold up.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 44:28

  • “sojourn” — גּוּר (gur): This word often means to live as a newcomer or resident in a place away from one’s own land. It describes the people of Judah living in Egypt rather than in their homeland.
  • “stand” — קוּם (qum): This word can mean to rise or stand, and it can also describe something being established. Here, words “stand” when what they say is borne out by events.

Why Jeremiah 44:28 matters

  • The verse places the people’s claims alongside God’s warning. Earlier, the people said they would continue offering sacrifices to the “queen of heaven” and claimed that they had prospered when they did so (Jeremiah 44:17–18).
  • The return of a few does not cancel the warning of widespread danger. Jeremiah 44:28 calls the survivors “a small number,” while the surrounding passage describes sword and famine overtaking the people in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:27).
  • “The remnant of Judah” refers here to those who had gone to live in Egypt. The verse draws attention to a group who had already survived the earlier disaster in Judah but now faced danger in another land.

Where else these words appear

“small” Hebrew H4962 · used in 21 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Deuteronomy 33:6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
  • Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

“escape” Hebrew H6412 · used in 21 verses

  • Genesis 14:13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.
  • Isaiah 45:20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
  • Ezekiel 7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

“remnant” Hebrew H7611 · used in 66 verses

  • Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
  • Jeremiah 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
  • Ezekiel 11:13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

“sojourn” Hebrew H1481 · used in 94 verses

  • Genesis 12:10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
  • Numbers 22:3 And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
  • Psalms 59:3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.