17But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
18Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
19He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
18 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
KJVKing James Version
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him: 'Ah my brother!' or: 'Ah sister!' They shall not lament for him: 'Ah lord!' or: 'Ah his glory!'
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Did Jehoiakim die in Babylon or near Jerusalem?2 Chronicles 36:5-6 says Nebuchadnezzar bound Jehoiakim in fetters "to carry him to Babylon." Jeremiah 22:18-19 prophesies that Jehoiakim will receive the buri…
Jeremiah 36:30(v19)Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in…
1 Kings 13:30(v18)He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
2 Kings 24:4(v17)and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon.
Jeremiah 16:6(v18)Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for…
Jeremiah 22:3(v17)Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no…
Show all 41 cross-references
Ezekiel 19:6(v17)He went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.
2 Peter 2:14(v17)having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;
1 Kings 21:23-24(v19)Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the…
Psalms 10:3(v17)For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.
Jeremiah 16:4(v18)“They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground.…
Jeremiah 22:10(v18)Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native…
Ezekiel 33:31(v17)They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their…
Exodus 18:21(v17)Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be…
Joshua 7:21(v17)When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I…
2 Samuel 1:26(v18)I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
2 Samuel 3:33-38(v18)The king lamented for Abner, and said, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands weren’t bound, and your feet weren’t put into fetters.…
1 Kings 14:10(v19)therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is…
1 Kings 21:19(v17)You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” ’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says,…
2 Kings 9:35(v19)They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
2 Chronicles 21:19-20(v18)In process of time, at the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness, and he died of severe diseases. His people made…
2 Chronicles 35:25(v18)Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made…
2 Chronicles 36:6(v19)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 36:8(v17)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the…
Job 31:7(v17)if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
Psalms 119:36-37(v17)Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
Jeremiah 15:3(v19)“I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the…
Jeremiah 26:22-24(v17)Then Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; and they fetched Uriah out…
Jeremiah 34:5(v18)You will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you.…
Jeremiah 36:6(v19)Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, Yahweh’s words, in the ears of the people in Yahweh’s…
Zephaniah 3:3(v17)Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
Mark 7:21-22(v17)For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, covetings, wickedness, deceit,…
Luke 12:15-21(v17)He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he…
Luke 16:13-14(v17)No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.…
Romans 1:29(v17)being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil…
1 Corinthians 6:10(v17)nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.
Ephesians 5:3-5(v17)But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor…
Colossians 3:5(v17)Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and…
James 1:14-15(v17)But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when…
2 Peter 2:3(v17)In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not…
1 Timothy 6:9-10(v17)But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and…
1 John 2:15-16(v17)Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv17–19Here the Prophet expresses more clearly how much Jehoiakim…
Here the Prophet expresses more clearly how much Jehoiakim differed from Josiah his father. He indeed shews that he was wholly unlike him, because Josiah had endeavored to observe what was equitable, while he set all his thoughts on fraud, plunder, and cruelty; for by the eye and the heart he means all the faculties of his soul and body. One of the main senses of the body, as it is well known, is the sight. Hence the Prophet includes here whatever is external and internal in men, when he says, thine eye, that is, all thy bodily senses are set on covetousness, and also thine heart, that is, all thy thoughts, feelings, designs, meditations, and purposes are employed in the same way. He intimates, in short, that Jehoiakim was corrupt both in body and mind, so that having cast aside every fear of God, he abandoned himself to avarice as well as to plunder and all acts of oppression. Thine eye, he says, and thy heart is not, except on covetousness
The verb בצע, betso, means to covet; hence the noun signifies not only avarice, but also any sinful lust. He adds cruelty, for it, cannot be but that all are bloody who give loose reins to their lusts. He mentions in the third place rapacity, or violent seizure; for עשק, oshek, means to take by force what belongs to another; hence the noun signifies rapacity. What follows in the last place is oppression, or disquietude. As רוף, ruts, means to run, Jerome renders it “the course of thy work,” as though ל, lamed, prefixed to עשות, oshut, were not one of the serviles, ם, ל, כ, ב, beth, caph, lamed, mem, but this cannot be admitted. The clear meaning of the Prophet indeed is, that Jehoiakim was not only intent on taking possession on what belonged to others, but that he also oppressed and distressed all he could. It is lastly added, to do; the verb to do is to be applied to what has gone before, that Jehoiakim employed all his thoughts, and was wholly engaged in evil deeds, that he not only contrived acts of cruelty and of avariciousness in his mind, but also carried fully into execution what he had contrived. It 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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv18–19For everyone shall have enough to lament for himself.
For everyone shall have enough to lament for himself.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv17–19Jer 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart [are]…
Jer 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart [are] not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do [it].
Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness.] That is all thou mindest and lookest after, oculis atque animo intentus ad rem. "Hearts they have," saith Peter of such, "exercised with covetous practices: cursed children." {2Pe 2:14} William Rufus is in story noted for such another.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv17–19All that thou lookest after, and that thy heart…
All that thou lookest after, and that thy heart is set upon, is thy own grandeur and riches. And to make thyself great, thou makest no difficulty to destroy thy subjects that are innocent, and have not deserved death, and to oppress others, using all manner of violence against them. It is not to be thought that Jehoiakim did all this in person, but by such corrupt and unjust judges as he set up; so God accounted that Ahab had killed and taken possession, 1Ki 21:19, though the elders and nobles were those that did it, 1Ki 21:11-13. Princes are responsible to God for the sins of their ministers and judges.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv17–19But thine eyes and thine heart are not but…
But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness,.... He was wholly intent upon gratifying that lust; his heart was meditating, contriving, and forming schemes for that purpose; and his eyes were looking out here and there for proper objects and opportunities to exercise it:
and for to shed innocent blood; in order to get their money, goods, and possessions into his hands; avarice often leads to murder:
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and for oppression, and for violence, to do it; by making incursions, and seizing upon the properties of men, and converting them to his own use; so true it is, that covetousness, or the love of money, is the root of all evil, Ti1 6:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn v19Of an ass - None attending him to his…
Of an ass - None attending him to his grave, none mourning for him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv18–19Verse 18. They shall not lament for him, saying,…
Verse 18. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother!] These words were no doubt the burden of some funeral dirge. Alas! a brother, who was our lord or governor, is gone. Alas, our sister! his QUEEN, who has lost her glory in losing her husband. הדה hodah is feminine, and must refer to the glory of the queen.
The mournings in the east, and lamentations for the dead, are loud, vehement, and distressing. For a child or a parent grief is expressed in a variety of impassioned sentences, each ending with a burden like that in the text, "Ah my child!" "Ah my mother!" as the prophet in this place: הוי אחי hoi achi, "Ah my brother!" הוי אחות hoi achoth, "Ah sister!" הוי אדון hoi adon, "Ah lord!" הוי הדה hoi hodah, "Ah the glory."
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Mr. Ward, in his Manners and Customs of the Hindoos, gives two examples of lamentation; one of a mother for the death of her son, one of a daughter for her departed mother. "When a woman," says he, "is overwhelmed with grief for the death of her child, she utters her grief in some such language as the following: -
Ah, my Hureedas, where is he gone? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
My golden image, Hureedas, who has taken? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
I nourished and reared him, where is he gone? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Take me with thee. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
He played round me like a golden top. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Like his face I never saw one. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
The infant continually cried, Ma Ma! -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Ah my child, crying, Ma! come into my lap. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now drink milk? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now stay in my lap? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Our support is gone! -
'Ah my child, my child!'
"The lamentations for a mother are in some such strains as these: -
Mother! where is she gone? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
You are gone, but what have you left for me? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Whom shall I now call mother, mother? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Where shall I find such a mother? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'"
From the above we may conclude that the funeral lamentations, to which the prophet refers, generally ended in this way, in each of the verses or interrogatories.
There is another intimation of this ancient and universal custom in 1Kg 13:30, where the old prophet, who had deceived the man of God, and who was afterwards slain by a lion, is represented as mourning over him, and saying, הוי אחי hoi achi, "Alas, my brother!" this being the burden of the lamentation which he had used on this occasion. Similar instances may be seen in other places, Jer 30:7; Eze 6:11; Joe 1:15; and particularly Am 5:16-17, and Re 18:10-19.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv17–18Jer 22:17. But thine eyes and thy heart are…
Jer 22:17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness — They are for that, and for nothing else. For this cause Jehoiakim is compared to a lion, by the Prophet Eze 19:6. Observe, reader, in covetousness the heart walks after the eyes, Job 31:7; it is therefore called the lust of the eye, 1Jn 2:15 : and the eyes and the heart are then for covetousness when the aims and affections are set upon the wealth of this world; and when they are so the temptation is strong to fraud, oppression, and all manner of violence and villany, even, as it is here said, to shed innocent blood.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv17–19Covetousness - literally, gain. Besides exacting forced labor Jehoiakim,…
Covetousness - literally, gain. Besides exacting forced labor Jehoiakim, to procure the necessary means for the vast expenses he incurred, put innocent people to death on various pretexts, and escheated their property.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv18–19Sister. They shall not condole with his consort.
Sister. They shall not condole with his consort.
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv17–19thine--as opposed to thy father, Josiah.
thine--as opposed to thy father, Josiah.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv17–1817. But thine eyes, etc. — Thou rulest for…
17. But thine eyes, etc. — Thou rulest for thine own selfish emolument or cruel and revengeful gratification; thy father ruled for the good of his people.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv17–1917. covetousness] better as mg. dishonest gain. Jehoiakim “remained…
17. covetousness] better as mg. dishonest gain. Jehoiakim “remained fixed in the recollections of his countrymen, as the last example of those cruel, selfish, luxurious princes, the natural product of Oriental monarchies, the disgrace of the monarchy of David.” (Stanley, J. Ch. II. 448.)
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv17–19(17) Thy covetousness.—More literally, thy gain, the word used…
(17) Thy covetousness.—More literally, thy gain, the word used implying (as in Jer_6:13; Jer_8:10) the idea of violence and oppression as the means by which it was obtained. The verb from which the noun is derived is so translated—“ violence” (literally, “crushing”)—in Deu_28:33. The marginal reading, “incursion,” has nothing to commend it. In “the blood of the innocent” here, as in Jer_22:3, we have an allusive reference to many, for the most part unrelenting, acts of cruelty. One of these, the murder of Urijah, meets us in Jer_26:23.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv17–19But thou, O Jehoiakim, art the opposite of thy…
But thou, O Jehoiakim, art the opposite of thy father. For (not, But) thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness. "Covetousness" includes the ideas of injustice and violence; (comp. Jer_6:13 Jer_8:10) hence the second half of the verse emphasizes the cruel tyranny which marked the internal policy of Jehoiakim.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v18With the burial of an ass.
Jer_22:18-19
With the burial of an ass.
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Dishonoured in death
Jehoiakim was king, and yet not one word of thanks do we find, nor one word of love, nor one word of regret expressed concerning his fate. We should learn from this how possible it is to pass through the world without leaving behind us one sacred or loving memory. He that seeketh his life shall lose it. A man that sacrifices daily to his own ambition, and never sets before himself a higher ideal than his own gratification, may appear to have much whilst he actually has nothing, may even appear to be winning great victories, when he is really undergoing disastrous defeats. What is a grand house if there be not in it a loving heart? What are walls but for the pictures that adorn them? What is life but for the trust which knits it into sympathetic unity? What is the night but for the stars that glitter in its darkness? There is an awful process of retrogression continually operating in life. Experienced men will tell us that the issue of life is one of two things: either advancement, or deterioration; continual improvement, or continual depreciation: we cannot remain just where we are, adding nothing, subtracting nothing, but realising a permanence of estate and faculty. The powers we do not use will fall into desuetude, and the abilities which might have made life easy may be so neglected as to become burdens too heavy to be carried. It lies within a mans power so to live that he may be buried with the burial of an ass: no mourners may surround his grave; no beneficiaries may recall his charities; no hidden hearts may conceal the tender story of his sympathy and helpfulness. A bitter sarcasm this, that a man should be buried like an ass! (J. Parker, D. D.)
The doom of the defrauder, libertine, and assassin
After a life of private or public iniquity, a mans death is not deplored. The obsequies may be pretentious--flags, wreaths, catafalques, military processions; but the world feels that a nuisance has been abated; he is cast forth by reason of the contempt of men; figuratively, if not literally, he is buried with the burial of an ass.
I. There is the romance of fraud. The heroes of this country are fast getting to be those who have most skill in swallowing trust funds, banks, stocks, and moneyed institutions. I thank God when fortunes thus gathered go to smash. They are plague struck, and blast a nation. I like to have them made loathsome and an insufferable stench, so that honest young men may take warning.
II. Next, I speak of the romance of libertinism. Society has severest retribution for the impurity that lurks about the cellars and alleys of the city. It cries out against it. It hurls the indignation of the law at it. But society becomes more lenient as impurity rises towards affluence and high social position, until, finally, it is silent, or disposed to palliate. Where is the judge, or the sheriff, or the police, who dare arraign for indecency the wealthy villain? Would God that the romance which flings its fascinations over the bestialities of high life might be gone! Whether it has canopied couch of eiderdown, or sleep amid the putridity of the low tenement house, four families in a room, Gods consuming vengeance is after it.
III. Next,. I speak of the romance of assassination. God gives life, and He only has a right to take it away; and that man who assumes this Divine prerogative has touched the last depth of crime. Society is alert for certain forms of murder. For garroting, or the beating out of life with a club, or axe, or slung shot, the law has a quick spring and a heavy stroke. But let a man come to wealth or social pretension, and then attempt to avenge his wrongs by aiming a pistol at the header heart of another, and immediately there are sympathies aroused. If capital punishment be right, then let the life of the polished murderer go with the life of the ignorant and vulgar assassin. Let there be no partiality of hemp, no aristocracy of the gallows. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The ignominious burial of the wicked
Christ tells the story of a prosperous farmer who was clean intoxicated with success, and could not entertain a thought but of his gains,--how the very night that he had decided on the enlargement of his premises, a voice from heaven called his soul away; and whatever monument with flattering title his friends may have erected over his grave, God wrote his epitaph, in one word of four letters, Fool. Buried with the burial of an ass. No one will for a moment suppose that a splendid catafalque and imposing funeral obsequies betoken the close of a noble and honourable life. Ah! many a man is laid in one of yonder cemeteries with every form of ceremonial pomp, with gilt, and nodding plumes, and long rows of carriages and costly wreaths; and if the truth were told, a nuisance is being got rid of; the world will be better now that he is gone. Well might the artless child, who had been wandering among the tombstones, and reading the epitaphs, turn to its mother and say, Mother, where are all the bad people buried? (T. Thain Davidson, D. D.)
A kings humiliating burial
Our Richard II, for his exactions to maintain a great court and favourites, lost his kingdom, was starved to death at Pomfret Castle, and scarce afforded common burial. King Stephen was interred in Faversham monastery; but afterwards his body, for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined, was cast into the river. (John Trapp.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v17there is nothing in your eyes and heart except…
there is nothing in your eyes and heart except worry ... crushing of others
Here "eyes" is a metonym for seeing and "heart" is a metonym for thinking. AT: "you never look for or think about anything except ... crushing of others" or "you only look for and think about ways to cheat others and pour out innocent blood, and to oppress and crush others" (See: Metonymy)
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unjust profit
This is getting money by cheating or by using unfair means.
pouring out innocent blood
Here "pouring out ... blood" is associated with murder, and "blood" refers to the murdered people. AT: "murdering innocent people" (See: Idiom and Synecdoche)
crushing of others
"doing violence to others in order to get money"
They will not lament for him
In verse 18, Yahweh stops speaking directly to Jehoiakim and begins to speak to other people. Here "lament" refers to grieving at Jehoiakim's death. AT: "They will not lament for Jehoiakim when he dies" (See: Ellipsis)
Woe, my brother! ... Woe, my sister! ... Woe, master! ... Woe, majesty!
Yahweh uses the word "Woe" several times for emphasis. He addresses the various people who would normally show great sadness when someone dies. (See: Parallelism)
He will be buried with a donkey's burial, dragged away and thrown out
The burial of Jehoiakim is spoken of as being the same as the manner in which people would bury a donkey. This can be stated in active form. AT: "They will bury his dead body the way they would bury a dead donkey; they will drag it away and throw it out" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Here the Prophet expresses more clearly how much Jehoiakim…
Here the Prophet expresses more clearly how much Jehoiakim differed from Josiah his father. He indeed shews that he was wholly unlike him, because Josiah had endeavored to observe what was equitable, while he set all his thoughts on fraud, plunder, and cruelty; for by the eye and the heart he means all the faculties of his soul and body. One of the main senses of the body, as it is well known, is the sight. Hence the Prophet includes here whatever is external and internal in men, when he says, thine eye, that is, all thy bodily senses are set on covetousness, and also thine heart, that is, all thy thoughts, feelings, designs, meditations, and purposes are employed in the same way. He intimates, in short, that Jehoiakim was corrupt both in body and mind, so that having cast aside every fear of God, he abandoned himself to avarice as well as to plunder and all acts of oppression. Thine eye, he says, and thy heart is not, except on covetousness
The verb בצע, betso, means to covet; hence the noun signifies not only avarice, but also any sinful lust. He adds cruelty, for it, cannot be but that all are bloody who give loose reins to their lusts. He mentions in the third place rapacity, or violent seizure; for עשק, oshek, means to take by force what belongs to another; hence the noun signifies rapacity. What follows in the last place is oppression, or disquietude. As רוף, ruts, means to run, Jerome renders it “the course of thy work,” as though ל, lamed, prefixed to עשות, oshut, were not one of the serviles, ם, ל, כ, ב, beth, caph, lamed, mem, but this cannot be admitted. The clear meaning of the Prophet indeed is, that Jehoiakim was not only intent on taking possession on what belonged to others, but that he also oppressed and distressed all he could. It is lastly added, to do; the verb to do is to be applied to what has gone before, that Jehoiakim employed all his thoughts, and was wholly engaged in evil deeds, that he not only contrived acts of cruelty and of avariciousness in his mind, but also carried fully into execution what he had contrived. It 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 On vv18–19 For everyone shall have enough to lament for himself.
For everyone shall have enough to lament for himself.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Jer 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart [are]…
Jer 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart [are] not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do [it].
Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness.] That is all thou mindest and lookest after, oculis atque animo intentus ad rem. "Hearts they have," saith Peter of such, "exercised with covetous practices: cursed children." {2Pe 2:14} William Rufus is in story noted for such another.
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 On vv17–19 All that thou lookest after, and that thy heart…
All that thou lookest after, and that thy heart is set upon, is thy own grandeur and riches. And to make thyself great, thou makest no difficulty to destroy thy subjects that are innocent, and have not deserved death, and to oppress others, using all manner of violence against them. It is not to be thought that Jehoiakim did all this in person, but by such corrupt and unjust judges as he set up; so God accounted that Ahab had killed and taken possession, 1Ki 21:19, though the elders and nobles were those that did it, 1Ki 21:11-13. Princes are responsible to God for the sins of their ministers and judges.
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 On vv17–19 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but…
But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness,.... He was wholly intent upon gratifying that lust; his heart was meditating, contriving, and forming schemes for that purpose; and his eyes were looking out here and there for proper objects and opportunities to exercise it:
and for to shed innocent blood; in order to get their money, goods, and possessions into his hands; avarice often leads to murder:
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and for oppression, and for violence, to do it; by making incursions, and seizing upon the properties of men, and converting them to his own use; so true it is, that covetousness, or the love of money, is the root of all evil, Ti1 6:10.
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 On v19 Of an ass - None attending him to his…
Of an ass - None attending him to his grave, none mourning for him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18–19 Verse 18. They shall not lament for him, saying,…
Verse 18. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother!] These words were no doubt the burden of some funeral dirge. Alas! a brother, who was our lord or governor, is gone. Alas, our sister! his QUEEN, who has lost her glory in losing her husband. הדה hodah is feminine, and must refer to the glory of the queen.
The mournings in the east, and lamentations for the dead, are loud, vehement, and distressing. For a child or a parent grief is expressed in a variety of impassioned sentences, each ending with a burden like that in the text, "Ah my child!" "Ah my mother!" as the prophet in this place: הוי אחי hoi achi, "Ah my brother!" הוי אחות hoi achoth, "Ah sister!" הוי אדון hoi adon, "Ah lord!" הוי הדה hoi hodah, "Ah the glory."
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Mr. Ward, in his Manners and Customs of the Hindoos, gives two examples of lamentation; one of a mother for the death of her son, one of a daughter for her departed mother. "When a woman," says he, "is overwhelmed with grief for the death of her child, she utters her grief in some such language as the following: -
Ah, my Hureedas, where is he gone? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
My golden image, Hureedas, who has taken? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
I nourished and reared him, where is he gone? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Take me with thee. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
He played round me like a golden top. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Like his face I never saw one. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
The infant continually cried, Ma Ma! -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Ah my child, crying, Ma! come into my lap. -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now drink milk? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Who shall now stay in my lap? -
'Ah my child, my child!'
Our support is gone! -
'Ah my child, my child!'
"The lamentations for a mother are in some such strains as these: -
Mother! where is she gone? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
You are gone, but what have you left for me? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Whom shall I now call mother, mother? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'
Where shall I find such a mother? -
'Ah my mother, my mother!'"
From the above we may conclude that the funeral lamentations, to which the prophet refers, generally ended in this way, in each of the verses or interrogatories.
There is another intimation of this ancient and universal custom in 1Kg 13:30, where the old prophet, who had deceived the man of God, and who was afterwards slain by a lion, is represented as mourning over him, and saying, הוי אחי hoi achi, "Alas, my brother!" this being the burden of the lamentation which he had used on this occasion. Similar instances may be seen in other places, Jer 30:7; Eze 6:11; Joe 1:15; and particularly Am 5:16-17, and Re 18:10-19.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17–18 Jer 22:17. But thine eyes and thy heart are…
Jer 22:17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness — They are for that, and for nothing else. For this cause Jehoiakim is compared to a lion, by the Prophet Eze 19:6. Observe, reader, in covetousness the heart walks after the eyes, Job 31:7; it is therefore called the lust of the eye, 1Jn 2:15 : and the eyes and the heart are then for covetousness when the aims and affections are set upon the wealth of this world; and when they are so the temptation is strong to fraud, oppression, and all manner of violence and villany, even, as it is here said, to shed innocent blood.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Covetousness - literally, gain. Besides exacting forced labor Jehoiakim,…
Covetousness - literally, gain. Besides exacting forced labor Jehoiakim, to procure the necessary means for the vast expenses he incurred, put innocent people to death on various pretexts, and escheated their property.
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 On vv18–19 Sister. They shall not condole with his consort.
Sister. They shall not condole with his consort.
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 On vv17–19 thine--as opposed to thy father, Josiah.
thine--as opposed to thy father, Josiah.
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 On vv17–18 17. But thine eyes, etc. — Thou rulest for…
17. But thine eyes, etc. — Thou rulest for thine own selfish emolument or cruel and revengeful gratification; thy father ruled for the good of his people.
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 On vv17–19 17. covetousness] better as mg. dishonest gain. Jehoiakim “remained…
17. covetousness] better as mg. dishonest gain. Jehoiakim “remained fixed in the recollections of his countrymen, as the last example of those cruel, selfish, luxurious princes, the natural product of Oriental monarchies, the disgrace of the monarchy of David.” (Stanley, J. Ch. II. 448.)
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 On vv17–19 (17) Thy covetousness.—More literally, thy gain, the word used…
(17) Thy covetousness.—More literally, thy gain, the word used implying (as in Jer_6:13; Jer_8:10) the idea of violence and oppression as the means by which it was obtained. The verb from which the noun is derived is so translated—“ violence” (literally, “crushing”)—in Deu_28:33. The marginal reading, “incursion,” has nothing to commend it. In “the blood of the innocent” here, as in Jer_22:3, we have an allusive reference to many, for the most part unrelenting, acts of cruelty. One of these, the murder of Urijah, meets us in Jer_26:23.
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 On vv17–19 But thou, O Jehoiakim, art the opposite of thy…
But thou, O Jehoiakim, art the opposite of thy father. For (not, But) thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness. "Covetousness" includes the ideas of injustice and violence; (comp. Jer_6:13 Jer_8:10) hence the second half of the verse emphasizes the cruel tyranny which marked the internal policy of Jehoiakim.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v18 With the burial of an ass.
Jer_22:18-19
With the burial of an ass.
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Dishonoured in death
Jehoiakim was king, and yet not one word of thanks do we find, nor one word of love, nor one word of regret expressed concerning his fate. We should learn from this how possible it is to pass through the world without leaving behind us one sacred or loving memory. He that seeketh his life shall lose it. A man that sacrifices daily to his own ambition, and never sets before himself a higher ideal than his own gratification, may appear to have much whilst he actually has nothing, may even appear to be winning great victories, when he is really undergoing disastrous defeats. What is a grand house if there be not in it a loving heart? What are walls but for the pictures that adorn them? What is life but for the trust which knits it into sympathetic unity? What is the night but for the stars that glitter in its darkness? There is an awful process of retrogression continually operating in life. Experienced men will tell us that the issue of life is one of two things: either advancement, or deterioration; continual improvement, or continual depreciation: we cannot remain just where we are, adding nothing, subtracting nothing, but realising a permanence of estate and faculty. The powers we do not use will fall into desuetude, and the abilities which might have made life easy may be so neglected as to become burdens too heavy to be carried. It lies within a mans power so to live that he may be buried with the burial of an ass: no mourners may surround his grave; no beneficiaries may recall his charities; no hidden hearts may conceal the tender story of his sympathy and helpfulness. A bitter sarcasm this, that a man should be buried like an ass! (J. Parker, D. D.)
The doom of the defrauder, libertine, and assassin
After a life of private or public iniquity, a mans death is not deplored. The obsequies may be pretentious--flags, wreaths, catafalques, military processions; but the world feels that a nuisance has been abated; he is cast forth by reason of the contempt of men; figuratively, if not literally, he is buried with the burial of an ass.
I. There is the romance of fraud. The heroes of this country are fast getting to be those who have most skill in swallowing trust funds, banks, stocks, and moneyed institutions. I thank God when fortunes thus gathered go to smash. They are plague struck, and blast a nation. I like to have them made loathsome and an insufferable stench, so that honest young men may take warning.
II. Next, I speak of the romance of libertinism. Society has severest retribution for the impurity that lurks about the cellars and alleys of the city. It cries out against it. It hurls the indignation of the law at it. But society becomes more lenient as impurity rises towards affluence and high social position, until, finally, it is silent, or disposed to palliate. Where is the judge, or the sheriff, or the police, who dare arraign for indecency the wealthy villain? Would God that the romance which flings its fascinations over the bestialities of high life might be gone! Whether it has canopied couch of eiderdown, or sleep amid the putridity of the low tenement house, four families in a room, Gods consuming vengeance is after it.
III. Next,. I speak of the romance of assassination. God gives life, and He only has a right to take it away; and that man who assumes this Divine prerogative has touched the last depth of crime. Society is alert for certain forms of murder. For garroting, or the beating out of life with a club, or axe, or slung shot, the law has a quick spring and a heavy stroke. But let a man come to wealth or social pretension, and then attempt to avenge his wrongs by aiming a pistol at the header heart of another, and immediately there are sympathies aroused. If capital punishment be right, then let the life of the polished murderer go with the life of the ignorant and vulgar assassin. Let there be no partiality of hemp, no aristocracy of the gallows. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The ignominious burial of the wicked
Christ tells the story of a prosperous farmer who was clean intoxicated with success, and could not entertain a thought but of his gains,--how the very night that he had decided on the enlargement of his premises, a voice from heaven called his soul away; and whatever monument with flattering title his friends may have erected over his grave, God wrote his epitaph, in one word of four letters, Fool. Buried with the burial of an ass. No one will for a moment suppose that a splendid catafalque and imposing funeral obsequies betoken the close of a noble and honourable life. Ah! many a man is laid in one of yonder cemeteries with every form of ceremonial pomp, with gilt, and nodding plumes, and long rows of carriages and costly wreaths; and if the truth were told, a nuisance is being got rid of; the world will be better now that he is gone. Well might the artless child, who had been wandering among the tombstones, and reading the epitaphs, turn to its mother and say, Mother, where are all the bad people buried? (T. Thain Davidson, D. D.)
A kings humiliating burial
Our Richard II, for his exactions to maintain a great court and favourites, lost his kingdom, was starved to death at Pomfret Castle, and scarce afforded common burial. King Stephen was interred in Faversham monastery; but afterwards his body, for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined, was cast into the river. (John Trapp.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 there is nothing in your eyes and heart except…
there is nothing in your eyes and heart except worry ... crushing of others
Here "eyes" is a metonym for seeing and "heart" is a metonym for thinking. AT: "you never look for or think about anything except ... crushing of others" or "you only look for and think about ways to cheat others and pour out innocent blood, and to oppress and crush others" (See: Metonymy)
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unjust profit
This is getting money by cheating or by using unfair means.
pouring out innocent blood
Here "pouring out ... blood" is associated with murder, and "blood" refers to the murdered people. AT: "murdering innocent people" (See: Idiom and Synecdoche)
crushing of others
"doing violence to others in order to get money"
They will not lament for him
In verse 18, Yahweh stops speaking directly to Jehoiakim and begins to speak to other people. Here "lament" refers to grieving at Jehoiakim's death. AT: "They will not lament for Jehoiakim when he dies" (See: Ellipsis)
Woe, my brother! ... Woe, my sister! ... Woe, master! ... Woe, majesty!
Yahweh uses the word "Woe" several times for emphasis. He addresses the various people who would normally show great sadness when someone dies. (See: Parallelism)
He will be buried with a donkey's burial, dragged away and thrown out
The burial of Jehoiakim is spoken of as being the same as the manner in which people would bury a donkey. This can be stated in active form. AT: "They will bury his dead body the way they would bury a dead donkey; they will drag it away and throw it out" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
translationWords
heart
profit
innocent
blood
oppress
Jehoiakim
king
Judah
lament
lord
majesty
bury
donkey
gate
Jerusalem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17–19 22:17 Unlike his father, Josiah, Jehoiakim practiced greed and…
22:17 Unlike his father, Josiah, Jehoiakim practiced greed and dishonesty and ignored the requirements of the covenant.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.