Jeremiah 13:22
in Jeremiah 13And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence.
KJV
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
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This verse in Jeremiah 13
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThy skirts - Probably these phrases are fetched from the usual practice of soldiers when they have conquered a place and taken prisoners, to strip them. By skirts is meant the lower part of their bodies covered with the lower part of their garments.
This site's exposition
see those coming from the north
on Jeremiah 13:20-22
Verse 21 sets over Jerusalem the nations she courted for protection, “close allies whom you yourself trained”. The pain that follows is likened to “a woman in labor”. Verse 22 names the cause plainly, “the magnitude of your iniquity”, as the reason her skirts are stripped off.
This site's exposition
And if you ask yourself
Wesley and Matthew Henry take the image from captors who stripped prisoners of war and drove them off barefoot. Albert Barnes pictures women of rank, used to long skirts, forced to walk like slaves. The cause is the magnitude of her iniquity.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 22) Do not pains seize you, like a woman in childbirth? And if you say in your heart, why have these things come to me? It is because the shameful things of your iniquity have been revealed, your plants have been defiled (or dishonored). While you do not know, like a woman experiencing sudden labor pains, so will sudden captivity seize you.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Thus they used to deal with prisoners taken in war, when they drove them into captivity, naked and barefoot, Isa. xx. Being thus carried off into a strange country, they shall be scattered there, as the stubble that is blown away by the wind of the wilderness, and nobody is concerned to bring it together again,
6 , wherefore am I in affliction? why doth God contend with me?) God takes notice of it, and is ready by his Spirit to impress the conviction, that, sin being discovered, it may be repented of. An answer to this enquiry. God will be justified when he speaks and will oblige us to justify him, and therefore will set the sin of sinners in order before them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And if thou say in thine heart,....
A sign, the marring of a girdle, which the prophet had worn for some time, by hiding it in a hole of a rock near the river Euphrates. It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs, that a stupid unthinking people might be brought to consider, and believe, and be affected with what was thus set before them. He was to wear a linen girdle for some time,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
if thou say--connecting this verse with "What wilt thou say" (Jer 13:21)? skirts discovered--that is, are thrown up so as to expose the person (Jer 13:26; Na 3:5). heels made bare--The sandal was fastened by a thong above the heel to the instep. The Hebrew, is, "are violently handled," or "torn off"; that is, thou art exposed to ignominy.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Are thy skirts discovered - Thy defenseless state is every where known; thou art not only weak, but ignominiously so. It is thy scandal to be in so depressed a condition; thou art lower than the basest of thy adversaries, and thou art so because of thy sin.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Made bare - Rather, “ill-used, treated with violence.” The long flowing robes worn by ladies of rank, are to be laid aside, that they might do menial work, bare-legged, like slaves. The ill-usage to the heels is the having to tramp barefoot, a thing very painful to women accustomed to the seclusion of the female apartments.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכִ֤י | vekhi | and if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹאמְרִי֙ | tomeri | you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בִּלְבָבֵ֔ךְ | bilvavekh | in heart your | H3824 → | 252 times |
| מַדּ֖וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| קְרָאֻ֣נִי | kerauni | have they happened to me | H7122 → | 139 times |
| אֵ֑לֶּה | ʾeleh | these [things] | H428 → | 746 times |
| בְּרֹ֧ב | bero | in [the] greatness of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| עֲוֹנֵ֛ךְ | ʾavonekh | iniquity your | H5771 → | 233 times |
| נִגְל֥וּ | niglu | they have been uncovered | H1540 → | 186 times |
| שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ | shulayikh | skirts your | H7757 → | |
| נֶחְמְס֥וּ | nechmesu | they have suffered violence | H2554 → | |
| עֲקֵבָֽיִךְ׃ | ʾakevayikh | heels your | H6119 → |
וְכִ֤יand if
vekhiH3588 →4482 times
תֹאמְרִי֙you will say
tomeriH559 →5305 times
בִּלְבָבֵ֔ךְin heart your
bilvavekhH3824 →252 times
מַדּ֖וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
קְרָאֻ֣נִיhave they happened to me
kerauniH7122 →139 times
אֵ֑לֶּהthese [things]
ʾelehH428 →746 times
בְּרֹ֧בin [the] greatness of
beroH7230 →149 times
עֲוֹנֵ֛ךְiniquity your
ʾavonekhH5771 →233 times
נִגְל֥וּthey have been uncovered
nigluH1540 →186 times
שׁוּלַ֖יִךְskirts your
shulayikhH7757 →
נֶחְמְס֥וּthey have suffered violence
nechmesuH2554 →
עֲקֵבָֽיִךְ׃heels your
ʾakevayikhH6119 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Nahum 3:5“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 23:29
They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 13:26
So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
- Nahum 2:13
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the…
- Isaiah 47:2–3
Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
- Ezekiel 23:29
Through
Jeremiah 5:19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 9:8–9
And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land…
- Deuteronomy 28:47–48
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- Jeremiah 22:8–9
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 16:13
So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you…
- 1 Kings 9:8–9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.