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Jeremiah 22:10

in Jeremiah 22

Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

KJV

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

This verse in Jeremiah 22

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Weep ye not for the dead - Josiah, dead in consequence of the wound he had received at Megiddo, in a battle with Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt; but he died in peace with God. But weep sore for him that goeth away - Namely, Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, called below Shallum, whom Pharaoh-necho had carried captive into Egypt from which it was prophesied he should never return, 2Ki 23:30-34. He was called Shallum before he ascended the throne, and Jehoahaz afterwards; so his brother Eliakim changed his name to Jehoiakim, and Mattaniah to Zedekiah.

This site's exposition

Do not weep for the dead

on Jeremiah 22:10-12

The dead king is Josiah, and the command “Do not weep for the dead king” sets his grave beside a worse fate. Shallum, identified as Jehoahaz, was deposed by Pharaoh Necho after three months, and “he will die in the place to which he was exiled.”

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse. 10, 11.) Do not weep for the dead, nor mourn over him; weep rather for him who is departing, for he will not return anymore, nor see the land of his birth. For thus says the Lord concerning Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, king of Judah: He who reigned in place of Josiah his father, who has gone out of this place: he shall not return here anymore, but he shall die in the place where I have transported him, and he shall not see this land anymore. King Josiah had three righteous sons, Joachaz, Jacim, and Sedeciam, of whom the first, Joachaz, the king of Egypt, Pharaoh Necho, led captive into Egypt, where he died, and appointed in his place as king his brother Eliacim (also known as Joachim) (2 Kings 23, 24, 25). When he died, his son Jechoniah reigned, but he was taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, along with his mother and the princes. In his place, his uncle Sedecias reigned, who was taken captive to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem. Therefore, the question arises, who could be fittingly called the one who should not weep, who should be led into captivity, and will never return again, when three are taken captive and carried away? The Hebrews believe that this applies to all three, that is, to Joachaz, Jechonia, and Zedekiah, who are all called the sons of Josiah, or Sellem, which means completion; this is because the kingdom of Judah ended with them. But it seems to me that this is specifically said about Zedekiah, concerning whom there is a prophecy in the present and past chapter, in which the kingdom of Judah truly ended, and under whom the city was captured and he was led to Babylon, where he is recorded as having died. This is Jehoiachin, that is, the culmination and completion, son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned for his father Josiah. However, Jehoiachin was not a son but a grandson of Josiah, the son of Jehoiakim. […]

A commentator

Jerome

LETTER 122 · Written before 420.

proposed

Jeremiah too laments over his impenitent people, saying, "O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for … my people!" And further on he gives a reason for his lamentation: "Do not weep for the dead," he writes, "or bemoan him, but weep sorely for him who goes away, for he shall return no more."

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

In the two foregoing prophecies Jeremiah stated the general principle on which depend the rise and downfall of kings and nations. He now adds for Zedekiah’s warning the history of three thrones which were not established. The first is that of Shallum the successor of Josiah, who probably took the name of Jehoahaz on his accession (see the marginal references notes). Jer 22:10 The dead - i. e., Josiah 2Ch 35:25. That goeth away - Rather, that is gone away.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Weep not for the dead Namely, for Jehoiakim, who will die before the gate, when they drag him into exile.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 22:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
concerning Shallum That is Zedekiah, and that is what he was called in I Chron. (3:14): “the fourth Shallum.” And he called him the Fourth, meaning the fourth to assume the kingship of Josiah’s sons, for first Jehoaha, reigned, then Jehoiakim, and after him Jehoiachin, and after him Zedekiah.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 22:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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. 4 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

17 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אַל־may not

    ʾal-H408 →724 times

  • תִּבְכּ֣וּyou weep

    tivkuH1058 →114 times

  • לְמֵ֔תfor [the] dead

    lemetH4191 →839 times

  • וְאַל־and may not

    veal-H408 →724 times

  • תָּנֻ֖דוּyou show sympathy

    tanuduH5110 →24 times

  • ל֑וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • בְּכ֤וּweep

    bekhuH1058 →114 times

  • בָכוֹ֙continually <to weep>

    vakhoH1058 →114 times

  • לַֽהֹלֵ֔ךְfor one [who] is about to go away

    laholekhH1980 →1546 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • לֹ֤אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יָשׁוּב֙he will return

    yashuvH7725 →1056 times

  • ע֔וֹדagain

    odH5750 →490 times

  • וְרָאָ֖הand he will see

    veraahH7200 →1300 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • אֶ֥רֶץ[the] land of

    ʾeretzH776 →2504 times

  • מוֹלַדְתּֽוֹ׃ סkindred his

    moladtoH4138 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Isaiah 57:1

    The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 22:20

      ‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…

    • Psalms 12:1

      Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

    • 2 Chronicles 34:28

      ‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place…

    • Micah 7:2

      The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

    • Isaiah 42:25

      So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to…

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 4:2

    So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

    it leads to

    • Job 3:11–26

      Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?

    • Ecclesiastes 2:17

      So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 22:11

    For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return,

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 3:15

      The sons of Josiah: Johanan was the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second, Zedekiah the third, and Shallum the fourth.

Where this verse is studied

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; Jerome, LETTER 122 and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).