'Us' Movie: What Is Jeremiah 11:11?

Jordan Peele's highly-anticipated follow-up to Get Out, twisted horror-thriller Us, is finally in theaters across the country. As everyone expected, fans are seeing the film and leaving the theater with even more questions than answers. Every reference plot thread hidden throughout Us creates has a meaning and a purpose, which makes you think back through each moment after you watch it, wondering why things were included, and what Peele could be saying by including them. Of all these small and cryptic elements, one of the most obvious and easiest to catch is the repeated nods to Jeremiah 11:11. It may have been confusing upon first watching the movie, but once you know what the message means, things make a lot more sense.

WARNING: This article contains mild spoilers for Jordan Peele's Us! Continue reading at your own risk...

As you probably already guessed, Jeremiah 11:11 is a verse in the Bible, and its message is far from a happy one. When you look up the reference and read it, you'll realize that it's an ominous tease for the actual events of Us. Here's what it says:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them."

The reference is first seen in the very beginning of the movie, when young Adelaide is walking on the boardwalk by herself. She sees a creepy man on the corner holding a cardbord sign with "Jeremiah 11:11" written on it. This character is reminiscent of those "end of the world" conspiracy theorists that hold up signs on street corners or yell at crowds with megaphones. At first, it seems like he was included in the movie simply to freak out the young girl after she was separated from her parents. After all, this kind of creep is one we would expect to find at a seaside carnival at night.

However, things go deeper than that. When Adelaide goes back to the beach with her family as an adult, they pass by an ambulance as the paramedics load up a homeless man who has seemingly been killed. The man is holding a Jeremiah 11:11 sign in his hand, and Adelaide quickly realizes he's the same man she saw as a child.

There are more references to that same man and his significance later in the movie, but to avoid really big spoilers, we'll save that for later. For a full breakdown on the film's twisted ending, click here.

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