Jeremiah 22:7
in Jeremiah 22I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
KJV
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
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This verse in Jeremiah 22
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAnd I will prepare destroyers against thee,.... The Chaldeans, men of savage dispositions, bent upon the destruction of their neighbours; and who had already destroyed many nations, and so fit instruments for such service, as after mentioned; and who yet did not come merely of themselves, but were moved and directed to it by the powerful and all wise providence of God, in consequence of a previous preparation and appointment of them by the Lord in his counsels and purposes.
This site's exposition
For this is what the LORD
on Jeremiah 22:6-9
The LORD tells the royal house, “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon,” and He will “turn you into a desert.” The answer names covenant breach: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.”
This site's exposition
I will appoint destroyers against you
Gill names the destroyers as the Chaldeans. Barnes notes that the word for appoint means to consecrate, as at 6:4, so the army comes set apart for this work. He reads the choicest cedars as the leading men of the royal house and the chief officers.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(V. 6,-8.) Because this is what the Lord says about the house (or to the house) of the king of Judah, Gilead, you are to me the head (or the beginning) of Lebanon. If I do not make you a desolation, cities uninhabitable. And I will consecrate (or build) upon you the one who kills men, and his weapons: and they will cut down your chosen cedars, and throw (or send) them into fire, and many nations will pass through this city, and each one will say to his neighbor: Why did the Lord do such to this great city?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But, (2.) This shall not protect them; the country that is now fruitful as Gilead shall be made a wilderness. The cities that are now strong as Lebanon shall be cities not inhabited; and, when the country is laid waste, the cities must be dispeopled. See how easily God's judgments can ruin a nation, and how certainly sin will do it.
): " I will prepare destroyers against thee; I will sanctify them" (so the word is); "I will appoint them to this service and use them in it." Note, When destruction is designed destroyers are prepared, and perhaps are in the preparing, and things are working towards the designed destruction, and are getting ready for it, long before.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Prepare - i. e., consecrate, see Jer 6:4 note. Thy choice cedars - The chief members of the royal lineage and the leading officers of state.
They shall cut down thy choice cedars - The destruction of the country is expressed under the symbol of the destruction of a fine forest; a multitude of fellers come against it, each with his axe; and, there being no resistance, every tree is soon felled to the earth. “These destroyers,” God says, “I have prepared, קדשתי kiddashti, I have sanctified - consecrated, to this work. They have their commission from me.”
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְקִדַּשְׁתִּ֥י | vekidashti | and I will consecrate | H6942 → | 171 times |
| עָלֶ֛יךָ | ʾaleikha | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַשְׁחִתִ֖ים | mashchitim | destroyers | H7843 → | 146 times |
| אִ֣ישׁ | ʾish | everyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| וְכֵלָ֑יו | vekhelav | and weapons his | H3627 → | 325 times |
| וְכָֽרְתוּ֙ | vekharetu | and they will cut down | H3772 → | 288 times |
| מִבְחַ֣ר | mivchar | [the] choicest of | H4005 → | |
| אֲרָזֶ֔יךָ | ʾarazeikha | cedars your | H730 → | 73 times |
| וְהִפִּ֖ילוּ | vehipilu | and they will cast [them] | H5307 → | 435 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאֵֽשׁ׃ | haesh | the fire | H784 → | 378 times |
וְקִדַּשְׁתִּ֥יand I will consecrate
vekidashtiH6942 →171 times
עָלֶ֛יךָon you
ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times
מַשְׁחִתִ֖יםdestroyers
mashchitimH7843 →146 times
אִ֣ישׁeveryone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
וְכֵלָ֑יוand weapons his
vekhelavH3627 →325 times
וְכָֽרְתוּ֙and they will cut down
vekharetuH3772 →288 times
מִבְחַ֣ר[the] choicest of
mivcharH4005 →
אֲרָזֶ֔יךָcedars your
ʾarazeikhaH730 →73 times
וְהִפִּ֖ילוּand they will cast [them]
vehipiluH5307 →435 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאֵֽשׁ׃the fire
haeshH784 →378 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Isaiah 37:24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut…
it leads to
- Isaiah 14:8
Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.”
- Isaiah 10:18
The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.
- Isaiah 29:17
In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
- Isaiah 36:15–20
Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
- Daniel 4:30
the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Isaiah 14:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
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); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.