Jeremiah 22:5-15

5 "¹But if you will not obey these words, I ²swear by Myself," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a desolation.""'

6 For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are like ³Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most * assuredly * I will make you like a ⁴wilderness, Like cities which are not inhabited.

7 "For I will set apart ⁵destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will ⁶cut down your choicest cedars And ⁷throw them on the fire.

8 "Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ⁸say to one another, 'Why * has the LORD done thus to this great city?'

9 "Then they will answer, 'Because * they ⁹forsook the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.' "

10 ¹⁰Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him, But weep continually for the one who goes away; For ¹¹he will never * return Or see his native land.

11 For thus says the LORD in regard to ¹²Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, "He will never * return there;

12 but in the place where * they led him captive, there he will ¹³die and not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

13 "Woe to him who builds his house ¹⁴without righteousness And his upper rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor's services without pay And ¹⁵does not give him his wages,

14 Who says, 'I will ¹⁶build myself a roomy house With spacious upper rooms, And cut out its windows, Paneling it with ¹⁷cedar and painting it bright red.'

15 "Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink And ¹⁸do justice and righteousness? Then it was ¹⁹well with him.

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Jeremiah 22:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 22

This chapter is a prophecy of what should befall the sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz or Shallum; Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. It begins with an exhortation to the then reigning prince, Jehoiakim, his family and court, to do justice, relieve the oppressed, and refrain from doing injury to any; with a promise of prosperity upon so doing, Jer 22:1-4; but, on the contrary behaviour, the king's family, however precious they had been in the sight of the Lord, should be destroyed, by persons described as fit for such work, which would occasion others to inquire the cause of such destruction; when it would be told them, it was for their apostasy from the Lord, their breaking covenant with him, and their idolatry, Jer 22:5-9; then of Shallum, who was then carried captive, it is predicted that he should never return more, which was matter of greater lamentation than the death of his father Josiah, Jer 22:10-12; next Jehoiakim, the present king on the throne, is reproved, and a woe denounced upon him for his injustice, luxury, covetousness, rapine, and murders, Jer 22:13-17; and it is particularly threatened that he should die unlamented, and have no burial, Jer 22:18,19; and then the people of the land are called upon to mourning and lamentation, their kings one after another being carried captive, Jer 22:20-23; also Jeconiah the king's son, and who succeeded him, is threatened with rejection from the Lord, and a delivery of him up into the hand of the king of Babylon, with exile in a strange country, and death there, and that without children; so that Solomon's line should cease in him, Jer 22:24-30.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 19

1. Jeremiah 17:27; Jeremiah 26:4
2. Genesis 22:16; Amos 6:8; Hebrews 6:13
3. Genesis 37:25; Numbers 32:1; Song of Songs 4:1
4. Psalms 107:34; Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 7:34; Micah 3:12
5. Isaiah 10:3-6; Jeremiah 4:6, 7
6. Isaiah 10:33, 34; Isaiah 37:24
7. Jeremiah 21:14
8. Deuteronomy 29:24-26; 1 Kings 9:8, 9; 2 Chronicles 7:20-22; Jeremiah 16:10
9. 2 Kings 22:17; 2 Chronicles 34:25; Jeremiah 11:3
10. Ecclesiastes 4:2; Isaiah 57:1; Jeremiah 16:7; Jeremiah 22:18
11. Jeremiah 25:27; Jeremiah 44:14
12. 2 Kings 23:30-34; 1 Chronicles 3:15; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4
13. 2 Kings 23:34; Jeremiah 22:18
14. Jeremiah 17:11; Micah 3:10; Habakkuk 2:9
15. Leviticus 19:13; James 5:4
16. Isaiah 5:8
17. 2 Samuel 7:2; Haggai 1:4
18. 2 Kings 23:25; Jeremiah 7:5; Jeremiah 21:12
19. Psalms 128:2; Isaiah 3:10; Jeremiah 42:6

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "say"
[b]. I.e. Jehoahaz
[c]. Or "roof chambers"
[d]. Or "roof chambers"
[e]. Or "Paneled"
[f]. Or "vermilion"