Jeremiah 22:20
in Jeremiah 22Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed.
KJV
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
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This verse in Jeremiah 22
Commentary
10 notes on this verseGo up to Lebanon, and cry,.... These words are directed to Jerusalem and its inhabitants, and to the people of the Jews; not to go up to the temple, as the Targum interprets it, so called, because made of the wood of Lebanon, as in Zec 11:1; or, as the Rabbins say, because it made white the sins of Israel; but the mountain of Lebanon, and from thence call to their neighbours for help in their present distress, as the Assyrians and Egyptians; and lift up thy voice in Bashan; another high hill in the land of Israel.
This site's exposition
Go up to Lebanon and cry
on Jeremiah 22:20-23
The city is told to “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,” “for all your lovers have been crushed,” the allies Judah trusted. The one “nestled in the cedars” answers the cedar palace of verse 14, and its comfort turns to “agony like a woman in labor.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 20 and following) Ascend Lebanon and cry out, and in Bashan give forth your voice, and cry out to the passersby, for all your lovers are crushed. I spoke to you in your abundance, you said: I will not listen. This is your way from your youth, for you have not listened to my voice. The wind will pasture all your shepherds (or lovers), and your lovers (or friends) will go into captivity. And then you will be confounded and ashamed of all your wickedness.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Lebanon - Jerusalem was the place to which this speech is directed: the inhabitants of which the prophet calls to go up to Lebanon. Both Lebanon and Bashan were hills that looked towards Assyria, from whence the Jews looked for help. Abarim - Abarim is the name of a mountain, as well as Lebanon and Bashan.
Jerusalem and Judah are here spoken to, or the Jewish state as a single person, and we have it here under a threefold character:-- 1. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thou wilt cry from the passages, from the roads, where thou wilt ever and anon be in distress." Thou wilt cry from Abarim (so some read it, as a proper name), a famous mountain in the border of Moab. "Thou wilt cry, as those that are in great consternation use to do, to all about thee; but in vain, for (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Go up to Lebanon - Probably Anti-Libanus, which, together with Bashan and Abarim, which we here translate passages, were on the way by which the captives should be led out of their own country.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Delivered in the reign of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah or Coniah), son of Jehoiakim; appended to the previous prophecy respecting Jehoiakim, on account of the similarity of the two prophecies.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The third example, Jehoiachin. With him all the best and noblest of the land were dragged from their homes to people the void places of Babylon. The passages - Really, Abarim, a range of mountains to the south of Gilead, opposite Jericho (see Num 27:12; Deu 32:49). Jeremiah names the chief ranges of mountains, which overlook the route from Jerusalem to Babylon, in regular order, beginning with Lebanon upon the north, then Bashan on the northeast, and lastly Abarim on the southeast. Thy lovers - i. e., the nations in alliance with Judah, especially Egypt, whose defeat at Carchemish Jer 46:2 gave all western Asia into the power of Nebuchadnezzar.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֲלִ֤י | ʾali | go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| הַלְּבָנוֹן֙ | halevanon | <the> Lebanon | H3844 → | 71 times |
| וּֽצְעָ֔קִי | utzeaki | and cry out | H6817 → | 55 times |
| וּבַבָּשָׁ֖ן | uvabashan | and in <the> Bashan | H1316 → | |
| תְּנִ֣י | teni | give forth | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| קוֹלֵ֑ךְ | kolekh | voice your | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וְצַֽעֲקִי֙ | vetzaaki | and cry out | H6817 → | 55 times |
| מֵֽעֲבָרִ֔ים | meavarim | from Abarim | H5682 → | |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִשְׁבְּר֖וּ | nishberu | they have been broken | H7665 → | 147 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְאַהֲבָֽיִךְ׃ | meahavayikh | lovers your | H157 → | 211 times |
עֲלִ֤יgo up
ʾaliH5927 →890 times
הַלְּבָנוֹן֙<the> Lebanon
halevanonH3844 →71 times
וּֽצְעָ֔קִיand cry out
utzeakiH6817 →55 times
וּבַבָּשָׁ֖ןand in <the> Bashan
uvabashanH1316 →
תְּנִ֣יgive forth
teniH5414 →2011 times
קוֹלֵ֑ךְvoice your
kolekhH6963 →506 times
וְצַֽעֲקִי֙and cry out
vetzaakiH6817 →55 times
מֵֽעֲבָרִ֔יםfrom Abarim
meavarimH5682 →
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִשְׁבְּר֖וּthey have been broken
nishberuH7665 →147 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מְאַהֲבָֽיִךְ׃lovers your
meahavayikhH157 →211 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 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 13:3
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jeremiah 1:15
For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.…
- Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Ezekiel 29:18–20
“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from…
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Isaiah 13:3
Through
Lamentations 1:2She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.
it leads to
- Psalms 6:6
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- Micah 7:5
Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- Psalms 6:6
Through
Ezekiel 23:22Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—
it leads to
- Ezekiel 16:37
therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you…
- Ezekiel 16:37
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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; 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.