The God of all flesh: is anything too hard for Him?

An army surrounded the city, the prophet sat under guard, and God told him to buy a field. Then God asked a question that still stops people in their tracks.

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Name 34 of 70The God of All Flesh
HebrewElohei kol basar
In plain wordsThe God of every living person, for whom nothing is too hard
Where to find itJeremiah 32:27, during the siege of Jerusalem

The God of all flesh is how God introduced Himself to Jeremiah on one of the darkest days in Jerusalem's history. The Hebrew is Elohei kol basar, and it means the God of every human being alive. He spoke it in Jeremiah 32:27 together with a famous question: is there any thing too hard for me?

Buying land in a city about to fall

The time was the tenth year of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, around 588 or 587 BC, about a year before the city fell in 587 or 586 BC (historians differ by a year on these dates). Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had sent his army to crush Judah's revolt. The Bible says the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem. A siege meant soldiers camped all around the walls so that no food came in. Famine and disease spread through the city.

Jeremiah was not free to walk the streets. King Zedekiah had locked him in the court of the prison because he kept warning that Babylon would win (Jeremiah 32:3). He was not wrong, but nobody wanted to hear it.

Then God told Jeremiah to expect a visitor. His cousin Hanameel would come and ask him to buy the family field at Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown in the land of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. Under the law of Moses, a close relative had the right to buy family land so it stayed in the family. The trouble was obvious. The Babylonian army already held the countryside, so that field was almost surely in enemy hands. It was like buying a house in a town that was burning.

Hanameel came, just as God said. Jeremiah bought the field and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver (Jeremiah 32:9). He signed the deed in front of witnesses and gave it to his helper Baruch. God told him to place both copies in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. An earthen vessel is a clay jar, which could keep the papers safe for years. God gave the reason:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
Jeremiah 32:15

A clay pot taking shape on a potter's wheel

Jeremiah's honest prayer, and God's answer

Right after this bold act of faith, Jeremiah prayed, and his prayer starts strong. He praised God as the Maker of heaven and earth and said there is nothing too hard for thee (Jeremiah 32:17). He listed the great things God had done for Israel. But by the end, his worry slips through. He points to the mounds of dirt the enemy had piled against the walls, called "mounts" in the King James, and reminds God that the city is falling. And yet, he says, You told me to buy a field.

It is a very human prayer. Jeremiah obeyed, and then he wondered if it made any sense. God did not scold him. He took Jeremiah's own words and handed them back as a question:

Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:26-27

God then explained that the city would fall because of its long unfaithfulness. But the story would not end there. He promised that one day people would again buy and sell land all over Judah:

And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah 32:43

The Chaldeans were the people of Babylon. God was saying: they have the land now, but they will not have the last word.

Kol basar and pala in plain words

Kol is the everyday Hebrew word for "all" or "every." Basar means flesh. Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, explains that it can mean the body, a person or mankind. When the Bible says "all flesh," it usually means every human being, and sometimes every living creature.

The word also hints at weakness. Flesh gets tired, sick and old. Isaiah put it this way: All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40:6). So the name has two sides. People are fragile, and God is the One who rules over all of them. That included the Babylonian soldiers outside the walls. They thought they were in charge, but they were flesh too, and their God was the One speaking to Jeremiah.

The words "too hard" translate the Hebrew verb pala. It means something beyond what a person can do, and it is closely tied to the idea of a wonder or a marvel. In Hebrew thinking, what is impossible for us is a wonderful thing for God. The same verb is used in Genesis 18:14, when God asked Abraham about Sarah's laughter over the promise of a baby in her old age. Jeremiah heard the same question his ancestors had heard.

More King James verses about all flesh

Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Genesis 18:14

Sarah was about ninety. In time she held her son Isaac. The question in Jeremiah 32 looks back to this moment.

Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
Numbers 27:16

Moses used a longer form of the title when he asked God to choose a leader after him. The One who gives every person breath knows who is right for the job.

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
Psalm 65:2

David saw a day when people from every nation would turn to the God who hears prayer. All flesh belongs to Him, and all flesh is welcome to come to Him.

When your situation looks like a siege

Maybe your own life feels surrounded right now. It could be a medical report, a family that is falling apart, money that runs out before the month does, or news that makes the future look closed. Jeremiah knew that feeling. The enemy really was at the gate.

Here is what his story teaches. First, it is all right to bring your questions to God. Jeremiah did, right after obeying, and God answered him with kindness. Second, God sometimes asks you to act on hope before you can see how things will work out. That might mean starting a project, forgiving someone, staying in school or planning a future when others say there is no point. Third, because God is the God of all flesh, every person you meet was made by Him and matters to Him, including people who look very different from you.

Write down the one thing in your life that looks too hard, and pray Jeremiah 32:27 over it.
Think of a small step of hope you could take this week, your own field at Anathoth.
Treat someone you usually ignore as a person God made and cares about.

The God of all flesh is name 34 of the 70 in the book. The next name also comes from Jeremiah, this time about Babylon's fall: the LORD God of recompences. You can also explore the names of God for healing or the full list of names of God in the Bible.

Get the book: the full chapter on The God of All Flesh

The book's chapter on the God of all flesh shows how the Greek translators read the question as nothing is hidden from Me, and follows the phrase all flesh to the Word made flesh. It also faces the hard questions: if nothing is too hard for God, why did He let the siege happen, and is everyone His child? A prayer for impossible days closes it.

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The GreekHow this name was carried into the Greek Old Testament and the New Testament.
The rest of the BibleWhere the name leads from here, all the way into the New Testament.
Hard questionsThe things people wonder about this name and do not always ask.
A prayerWords to pray this name back to God.

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Questions people ask

What does God of all flesh mean?

It means God is the God of every living person, and in some verses of every living creature. The Hebrew is Elohei kol basar. Kol means all, and basar means flesh, the body, which in the Bible stands for human beings in their weakness. Every person on earth belongs to Him, whether they know Him or not.

Where in the Bible does it say I am the God of all flesh?

Jeremiah 32:27 says Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? God spoke these words to the prophet Jeremiah while the Babylonian army was surrounding Jerusalem.

Is there anything too hard for God?

The Bible asks this question twice. God asked Abraham Is any thing too hard for the LORD? when He promised old Sarah a son, and He asked Jeremiah the same thing in Jeremiah 32:27. Both times the answer turned out to be no. That does not mean life will never be hard. It means no situation is beyond His power to bring to the end He has promised.

What is the story behind Jeremiah 32:27?

Jerusalem was under siege by Babylon, and Jeremiah was locked in the court of the prison. God told him to buy his cousin's field at Anathoth, land the enemy already held. Jeremiah paid seventeen shekels of silver, sealed the deed in a clay jar, and then asked God how this made sense. God answered with this name and a promise that fields would be bought in the land again.

What does God of the spirits of all flesh mean?

That is a related title Moses and Aaron used in Numbers 16:22, and Moses used again in Numbers 27:16. It says God gives life and breath to every person, so every life is in His care and He is the One to ask for help and leadership.