Jeremiah 29:22

22 Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’

Jeremiah 29:22 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:22

And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of
Judah which [are] in Babylon
A form of cursing; when they cursed anyone, or wished him ill, it should be in such like manner as follows; so odious and detestable would these men be afterwards to them, whom they, at least some of them, took to be the prophets of the Lord: saying, the Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king
of Babylon roasted in the fire;
or "burnt them" F4; not at once, but with a slow fire; so the Maccabees were roasted,

``Then the king, being in a rage, commanded pans and caldrons to be made hot: '' (2 Maccabees. 7:3)
Burning persons with fire, and casting them into a fiery furnace, were ways used by the Chaldeans in putting persons to death, ( Daniel 3:6 ) ; and roasting men at a fire was used by the Chinese F5.
FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Mlq) "combussit", Pagninus; "ustulavit", Munster; so Ben Melech says the word signifies "burning".
F5 Martin Hist. Sinic. p. 257.

Jeremiah 29:22 In-Context

20 Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, all you captives there in Babylon.
21 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says about your prophets—Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah—who are telling you lies in my name: “I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for execution before your eyes.
22 Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that the Judean exiles will curse someone by saying, ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned alive!’
23 For these men have done terrible things among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have lied in my name, saying things I did not command. I am a witness to this. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
24 The LORD sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in Babylon:
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.