Jeremiah 22:5

5 But if you don't obey these commands, says the Lord, I swear by my own name that this king's palace will become a ruin.'"

Jeremiah 22:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 22:5

But if ye will not hear these words
Will give no attention, and yield no obedience to them: I swear by myself, saith the Lord;
and by a greater he cannot swear; and that is the reason why he swears by himself, ( Hebrews 6:13 ) ; and as, when he swears to a promise, it shows the immutability of it, the certainty of its performance, and that it is irreversible, and never repented of, nor revoked; so it is when he swears to a threatening. The Targum is,

``by my word I swear:''

that this house shall become a desolation;
meaning not the temple, nor the city, but the king's palace.

Jeremiah 22:5 In-Context

3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is fair and right. Save the one who has been robbed from the power of his attacker. Don't mistreat or hurt the foreigners, orphans, or widows. Don't kill innocent people here.

4 If you carefully obey these commands, kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this palace with their officers and people, riding in chariots and on horses.

5 But if you don't obey these commands, says the Lord, I swear by my own name that this king's palace will become a ruin.'"

6 This is what the Lord says about the palace where the king of Judah lives: "You are tall like the forests of Gilead, like the mountaintops of Lebanon. But I will truly make you into a desert, into towns where no one lives.

7 I will send men to destroy the palace, each with his weapons. They will cut up your strong, beautiful cedar beams and throw them into the fire.