Jeremiah 21:14

14 I will punish you," says ADONAI, "as your deeds deserve. I will set its forest on fire, and it will devour everything around it."'"

Jeremiah 21:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 21:14

But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the Lord
The situation of their city, and the strength of its fortifications, however sufficient they might be thought to keep out an enemy from annoying them; yet it was impossible to hinder the Lord's coming among them, as he here threatens to do; and "visit" them, as the word signifies, in a way of wrath and justice, according to the demerit of their sins, expressed by "the fruit of their doings"; their punishment was the reward of their unrighteousness, the effect of their sinful practices; and, though this was dreadful and terrible, they could not but own it was just and equitable: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof;
not in the forest of Lebanon, but in the city of Jerusalem; whose houses stood as thick as trees in a forest, and which many of them, at least the most stately, might be built or ceiled with cedars from Mount Lebanon and its forest; though some understand this of the cities and towns about Jerusalem; and so the Targum renders it, "in its cities"; and the Syriac version, "its towns"; but these seem rather meant in the following clause: and it shall devour all things round about it;
the mountains and trees upon them, the cities and towns adjacent.

Jeremiah 21:14 In-Context

12 house of David, this is what ADONAI says: "Judge fairly every morning, rescue the wronged from their oppressors; or my fury will lash out like fire, burning so hot that no one can quench it, because of how evil your actions are."

13 ADONAI says, "I am against you, [Yerushalayim,] situated in a valley like a rock on a plain. You who say, 'Who can come down against us? Who can enter our lairs?'

14 I will punish you," says ADONAI, "as your deeds deserve. I will set its forest on fire, and it will devour everything around it."'"