Jeremiah 22:7

7 ¹I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, ²and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

Jeremiah 22:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 22:7

And I will prepare destroyers against thee
The Chaldeans, men of savage dispositions, bent upon the destruction of their neighbours; and who had already destroyed many nations, and so fit instruments for such service, as after mentioned; and who yet did not come merely of themselves, but were moved and directed to it by the powerful and all wise providence of God, in consequence of a previous preparation and appointment of them by the Lord in his counsels and purposes. It is, in the original text, "I will sanctify destroyers" {c}; and not only intends a purpose and design; but suggests, that what they should do by his will and order would be consistent with his holiness and justice; and also that being prepared and ready, they might quickly expect a visit from them: everyone with his weapons;
of war, or slaughter weapons, as in ( Ezekiel 9:2 ) ; or, "a man and his weapons" ^F4; not a single man only, as Nebuchadnezzar, but him and his army; everyone of the destroyers prepared with proper instruments to do execution: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast [them] into the fire;
the sons of the king, the princes of the blood, the nobles of the land, and other persons of rank and distinction, comparable to the tall cedars of Lebanon; so the Targum,

``and they shall slay the beauty of thy mighty ones, as the trees of a forest are cut down, and cast into the fire;''

or else the stately palaces of the king and his nobles, and other beautiful buildings, which were lined and ceiled with cedar, are here meant; and which the Chaldeans burnt with fire, ( Jeremiah 52:13 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (ytvdqw) "sanctificabo", V. L. Montanus, Cocceius.
F4 (wylkw vya) "virum et arma ejus", Vulg. Lat. Vatablus; "virum et instrumenta ejus", Montanus, Cocceius.

Jeremiah 22:7 In-Context

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.

8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city? ”

9 And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them. ”’”

Cross References

• 1. 22:7 ch. 6:4
• 2. 22:7 2 Kgs. 19:23; Isa. 37:24