Jeremiah 22:5

5 That if ye hear not these words, I swore in myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be into wilderness. (But if ye do not listen to these words, I swore to myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be turned into a wilderness, that is, into an empty 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 The Lord saith these things, Do ye doom, and rightfulness, and deliver ye him that is oppressed by violence from the hand of the false challenger; and do not ye make sorry, neither oppress ye wickedly a comeling, and a fatherless child, and a widow, and shed ye not out innocent blood in this place. (The Lord saith these things, Do ye justice, and uprightness, and rescue ye him who is oppressed by violence from the hand of the oppressor; and do not ye make sorry, nor wickedly oppress ye, a newcomer, or a stranger, or a fatherless child, or a widow, and pour ye not out innocent blood in this place.)
4 For if ye doing do this word, (then) kings of the kin of David sitting on his throne shall enter [in] by the gates of this house, and shall ascend on chariots and horses, they, and the servants, and the people of them. (For if ye do this thing, then kings of the kin of David sitting on his throne shall enter in by the gates of this house, or of this palace, and shall come in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people.)
5 That if ye hear not these words, I swore in myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be into wilderness. (But if ye do not listen to these words, I swore to myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be turned into a wilderness, that is, into an empty ruin.)
6 For the Lord saith these things on the house of the king of Judah; Gilead, thou art to me the head of the Lebanon; credence be not given to me, if I set not thee (into) a wilderness, (and) cities (which be) unhabitable. (For the Lord saith these things about the house of the king of Judah; thou art to me like Gilead, and like the heights of Lebanon; but credence be not given to me/but no one believe me, if I do not make thee into a wilderness, and a land of uninhabited cities.)
7 And I shall hallow on thee a man slaying, and his arms (And I shall ordain men against thee to kill thee with their weapons); and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast (them) down into (the) fire.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.