Jeremiah 22:8

8 And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’

Jeremiah 22:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 22:8

And many nations shall pass by this city
After it is burned down and destroyed; that is, people out of many nations travelling that way: and they shall say every man to his neighbour;
as in company together, passing along the ruined walls of the city: wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
so fortified and so full of people; the metropolis of the whole nation; the greatest city in the east; yea, the joy of the whole earth; a city peculiarly dear to the Lord; greatly honoured by him with his presence, worship, and ordinances, and yet now in ruins; how comes this to pass? they see and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in it, having a better notion of things than the Jews themselves had.

Jeremiah 22:8 In-Context

6 For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited.

7 I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.

8 And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’

9 Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”

10 Do not weep for him who is dead; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for him who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.