I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour all that is around her.’ ”
Parallel Translations
-
I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour all that is around her.’ ”
-
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.
-
And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 21:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 3:10-11 Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
- Proverbs 1:31 Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
- Jeremiah 32:19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;
- 2 Chronicles 36:19 They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels.
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Jeremiah 52:13 He burned Yahweh’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
- Isaiah 10:18-19 He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
- Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:
- Ezekiel 20:46-48 “Son of man, set your face toward the south, and preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South. Tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The burning flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it. All flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it. It will not be quenched.” ’ ”
- Galatians 6:7-8 Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- Isaiah 10:12 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks.
- Isaiah 24:21 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
- Isaiah 27:10-11 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isaiah 37:24 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.
- Jeremiah 6:29 The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Jeremiah 11:22 therefore Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine.
- Jeremiah 22:7 I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
- Zechariah 11:1 Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain But God, on the contrary, says, Behold I will…
But God, on the contrary, says, Behold I will come to thee, or against thee, and will visit thee. There is, indeed, a change of number; for he says, I will visit you, for he had begun by saying, “Ye who say,” האמרים, eamrim. I will visit upon you, he says, the fruit of your doings; that is,
“I will deal with you according to what you have done, as your works deserve.” Merit is to be taken for reward. Then God threatens that he would render to the Jews what they merited, because they had not ceased to provoke his wrath.
Read full note →
He adds, lastly, I will kindle a fire in its forest Some take “forest” metaphorically for the neighboring towns; but this seems foreign to the Prophet’s meaning. I do not, indeed, deny but that there is a metaphor in the words; but then the word forest is not to be applied to towns and villages, but to the buildings of the city itself, according to a mode of speaking elsewhere used by the Prophets. As their houses were built of a large quantity of wood, of tall and most choice trees, the Prophet compares this mass of wood to a forest. We may, however, give a simpler explanation, and I know not whether it be more suitable that the Prophet points out Lebanon. He then means by the forest of the city the trees of Lebanon, which we know were particularly fine, for their loftiness were everywhere known; and we know also that they were very large. As, then, a part of their false glory was Mount Lebanon, the Prophet distinctly intimates that it would serve as a help to burn the city itself; for when God burned Jerusalem, he would take from the vicinity materials for the purpose.
Now, as we understand the meaning of the Prophet, let us learn how to apply this passage. We have said elsewhere that nothing is more hateful to God than false confidence; when men, relying on their own resources, promise to themselves a happy and a safe condition, they become torpid in their own security. Thus it comes, that they despise God, and never flee to him; they scorn his judgments, and at length are carried away by a mad impulse to every kind of insolence. This is the reason why the Prophets so often and so sharply reprove secure men, for they become presumptuous towards God when they are touched by no regard for him, and with no fear of him. They then not only dishonor God by transferring the hope of their safety to mere means or such helps as they foolishly depend on, but they also think that they are not under the authority of God. Hence it is, that they promise themselves impunity, and thus become wholly hardened in their sins. Now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, in the houses thereof, which stood as…
That is, in the houses thereof, which stood as thick as trees in the forest.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 21:14 But I will punish you according to…
Jer 21:14 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.
Ver. 14. But I will punish you.] {a} And if I take you once to do, you are sure of your full payment. Heb., I will visit upon thee according to the fruit of your actions, i.e., I will lay upon you a punishment answerable to your sins; the sin being as the seed, and the punishment as the fruit that cometh of it - q.d., " Ye have sown the wind, and ye shall reap the whirlwind."
Read full note →
And I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof,] i.e., In the streets, which stand as thick with houses as the forest of Lebanon doth with trees, and are built with timber fetched from that forest.
{a} Puniam vos pro meritis.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I will punish you; in the Hebrew it is,…
I will punish you; in the Hebrew it is, I will visit upon you. God’s visitations are either of mercy, Psa 80:14; 106:4, or of judgment; therefore the sense is here rightly given by our translators punish. According to the fruit of your doings; the fruit of men’s doings is the product of their actions; God punisheth the fruit of our doings. In showing mercy, he acts from prerogative; in punishments, he doth but fill men with their own ways, and give them according to the fruit of their doings; so Jer 21:12.
I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof; by the forest he either meaneth the forest of Lebanon, or their houses made up of wood cut out of that forest, or their idolatrous groves.
Read full note →
And it shall devour all things round about it; and this fire he saith should not determine in the destruction only of this city, but in the total destruction of all the country adjacent to Jerusalem.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But I will punish you according to the fruit…
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the Lord,.... The situation of their city, and the strength of its fortifications, however sufficient they might be thought to keep out an enemy from annoying them; yet it was impossible to hinder the Lord's coming among them, as he here threatens to do; and "visit" them, as the word signifies, in a way of wrath and justice, according to the demerit of their sins, expressed by "the fruit of their doings"; their punishment was the reward of their unrighteousness, the effect of their sinful practices; and, though this was dreadful and terrible, they could not but own it was just and equitable:
Read full note →
and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof; not in the forest of Lebanon, but in the city of Jerusalem; whose houses stood as thick as trees in a forest, and which many of them, at least the most stately, might be built or ceiled with cedars from Mount Lebanon and its forest; though some understand this of the cities and towns about Jerusalem; and so the Targum renders it, "in its cities"; and the Syriac version, "its towns"; but these seem rather meant in the following clause:
and it shall devour all things round about it; the mountains and trees upon them, the cities and towns adjacent.
Next: Jeremiah Chapter 22
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The forest - By the forest he either means…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. I will kindle a fire in the…
Verse 14. I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof] I will send destruction into its centre, 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 21:1.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The forest - This suggested to the Jew the…
The forest - This suggested to the Jew the idea of everything grand and stately.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Doings. Hebrew, "studies." So "Your studious pursuits" occurs, ver.…
Doings. Hebrew, "studies." So "Your studious pursuits" occurs, ver. 12, in many Hebrew manuscripts, though the printed copy have, "their;" and "spoiled" for apprised. (Kennicott) --- Forest, the temple, which is called Libanus, (Zacharias xi. 21.) and the houses built of cedar-wood, (4 Kings xxv. 9.; Calmet) particularly the royal palace of the forest, 3 Kings vii. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain fruit of your doings-- (Pro 1:31; Isa 3:10-11).
fruit of your doings-- (Pro 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; Jer 52:13; Kg2 25:9).
Read full note →
Belonging to an earlier period than the twenty-first chapter, namely, the reigns of Shallum or Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah (Jer 22:10, Jer 22:13, Jer 22:20). Jeremiah often groups his prophecies, not by chronological order, but by similarity of subjects; thus Jer 22:3 corresponds to Jer 21:12. GROTIUS thinks that Jeremiah here repeats to Zedekiah what he had announced to that king's predecessors formerly (namely, his brother and brother's son), of a similar bearing, and which had since come to pass; a warning to Zedekiah. Probably, in arranging his prophecies they were grouped for the first time in the present order, designed by the Holy Spirit to set forth the series of kings of Judah, all four alike, failing in "righteousness," followed at last by the "King," a righteous Branch raised unto David, in the house of Judah, "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer 23:6). The unrighteousness of Zedekiah suggested the review of his predecessors' failure in the same respects, and consequent punishment, which ought to have warned him, but did not.
Next: Jeremiah Chapter 22
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. In answer to the self-secure question of the…
14. In answer to the self-secure question of the preceding verse, “Who shall come down against us?” the terrible answer comes, the Lord! The strong city has no defences against Him, and he it is who will accomplish its overthrow.
Forest — The dense mass of houses, built, many of them, of the Lebanon cedar. Hence the expressions in Jer_22:6, “Gilead” and “head of Lebanon.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. and I will kindle, etc.] Cp. on Jer_17:27.
14. and I will kindle, etc.] Cp. on Jer_17:27.
in her forest] i.e. Jerusalem, which is likened to a forest about to be wholly consumed by fire. For the same figure, representing in that case the people of Israel, cp. Isa_9:18. The expression does not mean literal trees, of which there was nothing like a forest in the neighbourhood of the city, but denotes either the houses clustering together like a forest, or, more generally, the beauty and grandeur of the place. Cp. for the general sense note on Gilead, etc. ch. Jer_22:6; also Isa_10:34, where Sennacherib, king of Assyria, is likened to “the thickets of the forest,” and to “Lebanon.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) I will kindle a fire in the forest…
(14) I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof.—The “forest” thus referred to may be either literally the woods, then covering a larger surface than in later times, at Kirjath-jearim (Psa_132:6; 1Sa_7:2), or the wood of the lone wilderness of Ziph (1Sa_23:15), or the valley of Rephaim (2Sa_5:22), or, figuratively, the royal palace, which, from its cedar columns (1Ki_7:2; 1Ki_10:21), was known as “the house of the forest of Lebanon.” (Comp. the comparison of the king’s house to “Gilead and the head of Lebanon,” in Jer_22:6.) The desolation wrought by an invading army such as that of Nebuchadnezzar, cutting down the “choice fir-trees of Lebanon and the forest of Carmel” (2Ki_19:23), showed itself in this destruction of forests in its most conspicuous form, and explains the comparative scarcity of trees in modern Palestine. So Assur-nasirpal narrates, in the history of his conquests, how he had cut down the pine, box, cypress, and other trees of the forest (Records of the Past, iii. p. 74).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In the forest thereof; i.e. in the forest of…
In the forest thereof; i.e. in the forest of houses. (comp. Jer_22:6, Jer_22:7)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.