Jeremiah 45:4

4 " 'This is what you are to say to him: This is what the Lord says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot^[a]-the whole land!

Jeremiah 45:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 45:4

Thus shalt thou say unto him
This is spoken to Jeremiah, and is an order from the Lord to him, what he should say in his name to Baruch: the Lord saith thus, behold, [that] which I have built will I break
down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up;
the Jewish nation, both as to church and state; which the Lord had built up as a spacious and beautiful house to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard, and set it with pleasant plants; but now would demolish this building, and destroy this plantation: even this whole land;
not a few cities only, or only Jerusalem the metropolis, but the whole land of Judea; no part of it but what should be left desolate. So the Targum,

``even the whole land of Israel, which is mine.''

Jeremiah 45:4 In-Context

1 [This is] the word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:

2 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:

3 'You have said, Woe is me, because the Lord has added misery to my pain! I am worn out with groaning and have found no rest.

4 " 'This is what you are to say to him: This is what the Lord says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot-the whole land!

5 But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I am about to bring disaster on every living creature'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'but I will grant you your life like the spoils [of war] wherever you go.' "

Footnotes

• [a]. Jr 24:6