Jeremiah 22:5

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

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 Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people.
5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "'You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 51:14; Genesis 22:16; Amos 6:8; [Hebrews 6:13]
  • 2. Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 25:11, 18; Jeremiah 44:6, 22; Isaiah 64:10; Ezekiel 5:14
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.