Jeremiah 22:8

8 "Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ¹say to one another, 'Why * has the LORD done thus 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 thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness, Like cities which are not inhabited.

7 "For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.

8 "Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this great city?'

9 "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.' "

10 Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him, But weep continually for the one who goes away; For he will never return Or see his native land.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 29:24-26; 1 Kings 9:8, 9; 2 Chronicles 7:20-22; Jeremiah 16:10