Jeremiah 22:9
in Jeremiah 22Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
KJV
Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
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This verse in Jeremiah 22
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBut, (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.
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
they have forsaken the covenant
The people give the same answer Moses foresaw when nations ask about the land (Deuteronomy 29:24-26). Henry calls the sin a revolt from their own God. Having forsaken His covenant, they served other gods, and the great city fell.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They forsook the covenant of Jehovah their own God, revolted from their allegiance to him and from the duty which their covenant with him bound them to, and they worshipped other gods and served them, in contempt of him; and therefore he gave them up to this destruction.
Then they shall answer,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Isa 57:1); as for Shallum or Jehoahaz, his son (2Ki 23:30), who, after a three months' reign, was carried off by Pharaoh-necho into Egypt, never to see his native land again (2Ki 23:31-34). Dying saints are justly to be envied, while living sinners are to be pitied.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Weep not for the dead Namely, for Jehoiakim, who will die before the gate, when they drag him into exile.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָ֣מְר֔וּ | veameru | and they will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| עַ֚ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָֽזְב֔וּ | ʾazevu | they forsook | H5800 → | 215 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּרִ֥ית | berit | [the] covenant of | H1285 → | 284 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑ם | ʾeloheihem | God their | H430 → | 2601 times |
| וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֛וּ | vaiyishtachavu | and they bowed down | H7812 → | 172 times |
| לֵאלֹהִ֥ים | lelohim | to gods | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֲחֵרִ֖ים | ʾacherim | other | H312 → | 166 times |
| וַיַּעַבְדֽוּם׃ ס | vaiyaavdum | and they served them | H5647 → | 288 times |
וְאָ֣מְר֔וּand they will say
veameruH559 →5305 times
עַ֚לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָֽזְב֔וּthey forsook
ʾazevuH5800 →215 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּרִ֥ית[the] covenant of
beritH1285 →284 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֑םGod their
ʾeloheihemH430 →2601 times
וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֛וּand they bowed down
vaiyishtachavuH7812 →172 times
לֵאלֹהִ֥יםto gods
lelohimH430 →2601 times
אֲחֵרִ֖יםother
ʾacherimH312 →166 times
וַיַּעַבְדֽוּם׃ סand they served them
vaiyaavdumH5647 →288 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
2 Chronicles 34:25because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be poured out upon this place…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Nahum 1:6
Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him.
- Mark 9:43–48
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
- Jeremiah 7:20
Through
Jeremiah 50:7All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 2:3
Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her found themselves guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 14:8
O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night?
- Jeremiah 40:2–3
The captain of the guard found Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place,
- Zechariah 11:5
whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
- Jeremiah 31:23
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore them from captivity, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities:…
- Jeremiah 2:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.