Jeremiah 22:5

5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"that this house will become a ruin."^[a]

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: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don't exploit or brutalize the alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses-they, their officers, and their people.

5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"that this house will become a ruin."

6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to Me, [or] the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.

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

Footnotes

• [a]. Jr 17:27