Jeremiah 21:14
in Jeremiah 21I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.
KJV
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
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This verse in Jeremiah 21
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 13, 14.) Behold, I am against you, O inhabitants of the solid and level valley, says the Lord, those who say, who will strike (or terrify) us? And who will enter our houses? And I will visit upon you; and what follows, according to the fruit of your endeavors, says the Lord, is not found in the Septuagint. And I will set fire to its forest, and it will consume all around it.
This site's exposition
Behold, I am against you who
on Jeremiah 21:13-14
The LORD addresses Jerusalem, “you who dwell above the valley, atop the rocky plateau,” a city that boasted, “Who can come against us?” He answers the boast with “I will kindle a fire in your forest.” The older commentators take the forest as the cedar-built palace and temple.
This site's exposition
I will kindle a fire in your
Wesley reads the forest as houses built of Lebanon wood. The next chapter uses the same picture, calling the king's house the summit of Lebanon and its cedars fuel for the fire (22:6-7). Clarke sees a fire lit at the center that spreads until everything around is burned.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
The forest - By the forest he either means the forest of Lebanon or their houses, made of wood cut out of that forest. And it - And this fire shall not end in the destruction of this city, but in the total destruction of all the country round Jerusalem.
), I will punish you, by due course of law, according to the fruit of your doings, that is, according to the merit of them and the direct tendency of them. That shall be brought upon you which is the natural product of sin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
It is a rock of the plain, which made it difficult for an enemy to undermine them. These advantages of their situation they trusted to more than to the power and promise of God; and, thinking their city by these means to be impregnable, they set the judgments of God at defiance, saying, " Who shall come down against us?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord,....
Note, It is folly to say, when things are bad with us, "They will always be so." It is possible that those who are despised may come to be respected; and it is promised that those who honour God he will honour, and that those who have afflicted his people shall bow to them, Isa. lx.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof - I will send destruction into its center, that shall spread to every part of the circumference, and so consume the whole. The beginning of the thirty-fourth chapter should follow here. See the arrangement on Jer 34:1 (note).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
fruit of your doings-- (Pr 1:31; Isa 3:10, 11). forest thereof--namely of your city, taken from Jer 21:13. "Forest" refers to the dense mass of houses built of cedar, &c., brought from Lebanon (Jer 22:7;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The forest - This suggested to the Jew the idea of everything grand and stately.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
O dweller of the valley Jerusalem is in the midst of a valley. Another explanation. That the Holy One, blessed be He, devised a deep plot against you to destroy you.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּפָקַדְתִּ֧י | ufakadti | and I will visit [judgment] | H6485 → | 303 times |
| עֲלֵיכֶ֛ם | ʾaleikhem | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כִּפְרִ֥י | kifri | according to [the] fruit of | H6529 → | 119 times |
| מַעַלְלֵיכֶ֖ם | maaleikhem | deeds your | H4611 → | 41 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְהִצַּ֤תִּי | vehitzati | and I will kindle | H3341 → | 29 times |
| אֵשׁ֙ | ʾesh | a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| בְּיַעְרָ֔הּ | beya'rah | in forest its | H3293 → | 59 times |
| וְאָכְלָ֖ה | veakhelah | and it will consume | H398 → | 810 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| סְבִיבֶֽיהָ׃ ס | seviveiha | around it | H5439 → | 336 times |
וּפָקַדְתִּ֧יand I will visit [judgment]
ufakadtiH6485 →303 times
עֲלֵיכֶ֛םon you
ʾaleikhemH5921 →5755 times
כִּפְרִ֥יaccording to [the] fruit of
kifriH6529 →119 times
מַעַלְלֵיכֶ֖םdeeds your
maaleikhemH4611 →41 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְהִצַּ֤תִּיand I will kindle
vehitzatiH3341 →29 times
אֵשׁ֙a fire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
בְּיַעְרָ֔הּin forest its
beya'rahH3293 →59 times
וְאָכְלָ֖הand it will consume
veakhelahH398 →810 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
סְבִיבֶֽיהָ׃ סaround it
seviveihaH5439 →336 times
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
Jeremiah 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the…
- Romans 8:27
And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
- Jeremiah 11:20
O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
- Revelation 2:23
Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
- Hebrews 4:12–13
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- 1 Samuel 16:7
Through
Jeremiah 32:19the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:10
I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Jeremiah 17:10
Through
Proverbs 1:31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
it leads to
- Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart receives the fill of his own ways, but a good man is rewarded for his ways.
- Jeremiah 6:19
Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.
- Proverbs 14:14
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; 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.