Jeremiah 22:5-15

5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, said the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

6 For thus hath the LORD said regarding the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness and cities which are not inhabited.

7 And I will appoint destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars and cast them into the fire.

8 And many Gentiles shall pass by this city, and each man shall say to his neighbour, Why has the LORD done thus unto this great city?

9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.

10 Do not weep for the dead nor bemoan him, but weep sore for him that goes away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country.

11 For thus hath the LORD said of Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, He who went forth out of this place shall not return there any more;

12 but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall see this land no more.

13 Woe unto him that builds his house and not in righteousness and his chambers and not in judgment, using his neighbour’s service without wages and not giving him the wages of his work!

14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts out windows in it and covers it with cedar and anoints it with vermilion.

15 Shalt thou reign, because thou dost enclose thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink and do judgment and righteousness, and then it was well with him?

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.