Jeremiah 22:8

8 People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: "Why has the LORD treated that great city like this?"

Jeremiah 22:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 22:8

And many nations shall pass by this city
After it is burned down and destroyed; that is, people out of many nations travelling that way: and they shall say every man to his neighbour;
as in company together, passing along the ruined walls of the city: wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
so fortified and so full of people; the metropolis of the whole nation; the greatest city in the east; yea, the joy of the whole earth; a city peculiarly dear to the Lord; greatly honoured by him with his presence, worship, and ordinances, and yet now in ruins; how comes this to pass? they see and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in it, having a better notion of things than the Jews themselves had.

Jeremiah 22:8 In-Context

6 The LORD proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah: Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.

7 I will summon destroyers against you, who will use their weapons to cut down your finest cedars and hurl them into the fire.

8 People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: "Why has the LORD treated that great city like this?"

9 And the answer will be, "Because they abandoned the covenant with the LORD their God and worshipped and served other gods."

10 Don't weep or lament for the dead king. Weep instead for the one who has gone away, for he will never return to see his native soil.