Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
Parallel Translations
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Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
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O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
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O inhabitant of Lebanon, that art nestled in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 22:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 4:30-31 You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”
- Jeremiah 22:6 For Yahweh says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
- Numbers 24:21 He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, “Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.
- Jeremiah 3:21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
- Jeremiah 21:13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh. ‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?” or “Who would enter into our homes?”
- Jeremiah 30:5-6 For Yahweh says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale?
- Jeremiah 48:28 You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock. Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.
- Jeremiah 49:16 As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
- Hosea 5:15–6:1 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.” “Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Hosea 7:14 They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.
- Amos 9:2 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
- Obadiah 1:4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- Habakkuk 2:9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Zechariah 11:1-2 Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars. Wail, cypress tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The Prophet confirms the same thing in other words;…
The Prophet confirms the same thing in other words; and hence it appears how difficult it is to shake off from men their false confidence, when they give themselves up to earthly things. As soon, then, as false confidence strikes its roots into the hearts of men, they cannot be moved either by any threatenings or by any dangers; even though death itself were hanging over them, they yet remain unconcerned: and hence Isaiah upbraids them and says, That they had made a covenant with death. (Isaiah 28:15.) This was the reason why the Prophet here multiplied words and used greater vehemence; it was for the purpose of correcting that perverseness which prevailed among the Jews; for they thought themselves beyond the reach of those darts which God’s hands would throw.
He therefore says, that they had set their seat on Lebanon, and made their nest among the cedars Some interpreters understand this figuratively of the cedar houses in which they dwelt; that is, that they ornamented their houses or palaces, as we have seen, with boards of cedar. But I take the words more simply, — That they considered Lebanon as an impregnable stronghold, and that he compares them to birds which choose the highest cedars to make their nests in. The meaning is, that the Jews were so blinded by their pride, that they thought that they had Lebanon as a safe refuge, and also that they imagined that they had nests as it were in its cedars. But there is no doubt but that the Prophet, in mentioning this one particular, meant to include all those false and vain confidences with which the Jews were inebriated. But he speaks by way of concession, as though he had said, that the Jews were not terrified by God’s threatenings, because they cast their eyes on Lebanon and on its lofty cedars.
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But how gracious, he says, wilt thou be; that is, what grace wilt thou find, when sorrows shall come upon thee, the pain as of one in travail The Prophet expresses here what often occurs in Scripture, that when the ungodly say, “Peace and safety,” sudden ruin comes on them. (1 Thessalonians 5:3.) He then does not allow that the Jews gained anything by thinking that they would have a quiet station on Lebanon, and by having their nests in the cedars, for God would bring on them sudden pains like those of women, who, while laughing and full of mirth, are in a moment seized with the pangs of childbearing. Jeremiah now says, that a similar thing would happen to the Jews. I touch but lightly on this point, while yet it is worthy of long and careful meditation. Let us then know, that nothing is more intolerable to God than when we promise to ourselves a quiet rest while he proclaims war against us, and while we, as it were designedly, daily provoke him. 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 Thou that art built of the fair Cedar trees…
Thou that art built of the fair Cedar trees of Lebanon.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy…
Jer 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
Ver. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon.] Heb., O inhabitress - that is, O Jerusalem, who hast perched thyseff aloft, and pridest thyself in thy strength and stateliness.
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How gracious shalt thou be!] i.e., How ridiculous, when thy lofty and stately rooms wherein thou art roosted shall be to thee but as groaning rooms to women in travail.
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 Jerusalem, which is called an
Jerusalem, which is called an
inhabitant of Lebanon, either because their houses were built of wood cut down out of the forest of Lebanon, or because they lived in as great plenty and delight as if they lived in Lebanon, or because they thought the mountain of Lebanon was a certain refuge to them. They are said to
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make their nest in the cedars, either because their houses were built of the cedars of Lebanon, or because of the security they promised themselves from that forest and mountain, so full of and famous for cedars. What favour wilt thou find when my judgments shall come upon thee, as suddenly and as smartly as the pains of a woman in travail come upon her! a similitude often made use of by this prophet, to express the suddenness, unavoidableness, and greatness of judgments, Jer 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 30:6; 49:24; 50:43; and so in other scriptures, Psa 48:6; Mic 4:9; 1Th 5:3.
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 O inhabitant of Lebanon,.... Jerusalem is meant, and the…
O inhabitant of Lebanon,.... Jerusalem is meant, and the inhabitants of it, so called, because they lived near Lebanon, or in that land in which Lebanon was; or rather because they dwelt in houses made of the wood of Lebanon; and which stood as thick as the trees in the forest of Lebanon; and where they thought themselves safe and secure, according to the next clause; not but that there were inhabitants of the mountain of Lebanon, called Druses; and there were towns and villages on it, inhabited by people, as there are to this day. After four hours and a half travelling up the ascent, from the foot of the mountain, there is, as travellers (z) inform us, a small pretty village, called Eden; and besides that, at some distance from it, another called Canobine, where there is a convent of the Maronites, and is the seat of their patriarch; and near it a valley of that name, full of hermitages, cells and monasteries; but the former are here meant;
that makest thy nests in the cedars; in towns, palaces, and houses, covered, ceiled, raftered, and wainscotted with cedars; here they lived at ease and security, as birds in a nest. The Targum is,
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"who dwellest in the house of the sanctuary, and among kings? nourishing thy children;''
how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail? that is, either thou wilt seek grace and favour at the hand of God, and make supplication to him; thou wilt then be an humble supplicant, when in distress, though now proud and haughty (a): or what favour wilt thou then find among those that come to waste and destroy thee? This refers to the calamity coming upon them by the Chaldeans, as the following words show:
(z) Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 142, 143. Thevenot's Travels, part 1. B. 2. c. 60. p. 221. (a) "quam gratiam habuisti, vel quomodo precata es", Vatablus; "quam afficieris gratia", Piscator; "quantum gratiae invenies", Schmidt.
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 Lebanon - Jerusalem is called an inhabitant of Lebanon,…
Lebanon - Jerusalem is called an inhabitant of Lebanon, because their houses were built of wood cut down out of the forest of Lebanon. Cedars - Their houses were built of the Cedars of Lebanon. How gracious - What favour wilt thou find when my judgments come upon thee, as the pains of a woman in travail come upon her.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. How gracious shalt thou be] A strong…
Verse 23. How gracious shalt thou be] A strong irony.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 22:23. O inhabitant of Lebanon — O thou…
Jer 22:23. O inhabitant of Lebanon — O thou that inhabitest the city which for pleasantness and delight may be compared to Lebanon. Or he alludes to the stately buildings of Jerusalem, elsewhere compared to the tall cedars of a forest: see note on Jer 21:14. That makest thy nest in the cedars — Who livest in houses built of cedars. How gracious shalt thou be — Or rather, how humble, or suppliant, wilt thou be, when pangs come upon thee — Those pangs of affliction which shall suddenly oppress thee, whereas before thou wast too proud to hearken to any advice that was offered. The Hebrew, מה נחנתי, is rendered by Buxtorff, quam gratulaberis tibi, How wilt thou gratulate thyself when pangs, &c., understanding it as spoken ironically.
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 Lebanon is the usual metaphor for anything splendid. and…
Lebanon is the usual metaphor for anything splendid. and is here put for Jerusalem, but with special reference to the kings whose pride it was to dwell in palaces roofed with cedar Jer 22:14.
How gracious shalt thou be - Or, How wilt thou groan!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain inhabitant of Lebanon--namely, Jerusalem, whose temple, palaces, and principal…
inhabitant of Lebanon--namely, Jerusalem, whose temple, palaces, and principal habitations were built of cedars of Lebanon.
how gracious--irony. How graciously thou wilt be treated by the Chaldees, when they come on thee suddenly, as pangs on a woman in travail (Jer 6:24)! Nay, all thy fine buildings will win no favor for thee from them. MAURER translates, "How shalt thou be to be pitied!"
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 23. Inhabitant of Lebanon — That is, Jerusalem, so…
23. Inhabitant of Lebanon — That is, Jerusalem, so called in double allusion to her buildings of cedar and her sense of loftiness and security.
How gracious — Rather, how wilt thou groan!
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 23. “Judah has been as confident of safety as…
23. “Judah has been as confident of safety as a bird that had fixed its nest far away from men in the cedars on the heights of Lebanon.” Pe.
inhabitant] For mg. inhabitress see on Jer_21:13.
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how greatly to be pitied] The mg. how wilt thou groan is probably the right reading (so LXX, Syr. and Targ. The MT. is a not unnatural corruption arising from a transposition of two consonants).
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 (23) O, inhabitant of Lebanon.—The phrase develops the thought…
(23) O, inhabitant of Lebanon.—The phrase develops the thought of Jer_22:6. The king, in his cedar-palace, is as one who has made Lebanon his home, literally and figuratively (see Note on Jer_22:7), and is as an eagle nestling in the cedar.
How gracious shalt thou be . . .!—Better, how wilt thou sigh! or, how wilt thou groan! as connected with the pangs of travail. No pomp or majesty could save the royal house from the inevitable doom.
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 O inhabitant rather, O inhabitressof Lebanon. It is the…
O inhabitant rather, O inhabitressof Lebanon. It is the people of Jerusalem which is meant; the "Lebanon" are the palaces of cedar-wood which together are called" the house of the King of Judah" (ver. 6). How gracious shalt thou be; rather, How wilt thou sigh!
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 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in…
Jer_22:23
O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars.
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The nest in the cedars
The inhabitant of Lebanon, that maketh his nest in the cedars, is an illustration of all those who, in the pride and security of the present, are blind to the uncertainties of the future.
I. Why is it that Gods message takes such little hold of the heart? He pours out all His love in pleading with men. Seek ye My face. Has the answer gone up from your heart, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? If not, why not? Are you making a nest for yourself among the cedars? dreaming yourself to be secure, and, like the false Church in the Apocalypse, saying to yourself, I shall see no sorrow? What is the ground of your security? Has the hand of diligence surrounded you with comforts? The cheerful home, the well-spread table, the smiling faces of children,--are these your portion? Oh, how often are these things as the nest in the cedars! Or the nest may be of another kind--framed out of self-righteousness and moral excellence. In short, whatever it be which holds back the heart from Christ, and prompts the vain hope that all will be well at last, though there be no conscious faith, nor any evidence of a converted heart, that is your nest among the cedars. Though now heedless to the call of God, the storm must ere long burst on the cedar, and rive it to its roots, laying in the dust the nest that seemed so safe in its towering branches. Disappointment, loss, disaster, trial, death, the judgment,--what are these in their turn but just the lightning flash which strips the cedar of its foliage, and leaves the nest exposed to the scorching of the summers heat, and the withering of the winters frost? What are they all but Gods instruments for shivering into ruins the miserable refuges in which men seek shelter and comfort amid the experiences of time, and in the prospect of eternity?
II. When the cedars are fallen, how bitter the disappointment! The world, its business, its pleasures, its cares, its struggles, its joys, its sorrows,--all are fast vanishing. Snap the cedars go! and meanwhile there is dismay at the review of the past, and the still darker prospect of the future! Behind, a life spent with the form of godliness, but entirely without God. Before, is death, the sifting of the judgment, eternity. Behind, a life given up to earth and earthly things. Before, an immortality, over the far-reaching expanse of which no star of hope sheds a gleam of life and peace. Can we wonder if the soul shrinks back in alarm, if dark forebodings haunt the spirit, and prayers, and regrets, and vows, and promises blend together as the outward expression of anxiety and fear?
III. Where can you build your hopes and not find them shattered and broken by disappointment. Not among the cedars, but in the hollow of that Rock of Ages, which defies the howling of the tempest, and the sweep of the hurricane--which stands forth calm and stately in its strength, amid the shocks of time, and shall lift its head unshaken, even when the earth and all that is in it shall be dissolved and broken up. The memory of guilt and shortcoming, and the record of transgression are terrible, hut to the humble and believing Christian they can bring neither harm nor hurt. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide beneath the shadow of the Almighty. (R. Allen, M. A.)
A sure refuge
I. The insufficiency of every human aid, as illustrated by the prophet in the example of the inhabitant of Lebanon. Lebanon was a noble and a stately mountain, the pride and the ornament of the Eastern world. Its summit was crested with eternal snows, while its sides were adorned with forests of the graceful and goodly cedar. Beneath were slopes of rich pasturage, on which were fed unnumbered flocks and herds. Rivulets gushed from the fissures, and separated among the hills, which afforded refreshment to the fainting traveller, and maintained in native purity of freshness the verdure of the mountain side. No image could more expressively convey to the mind of an Israelite all that man most highly esteems of grandeur, magnificence, and beauty. But the idea of security is also implied. In many human ills, money, as the wise man says, is a defence; and the rich man, in a land of commerce like our own, is as the inhabitant of Lebanon, compared with the dweller in the plain below. The winds may rage, and the storm beat; but his airy dwelling place is unmoved. The enemy may spread themselves over the plain; but his house of defence is the munitions of rocks. How enviable a condition! you will say, But Ah! the things that are impossible with men, are possible with God. Lightning from heaven above may blast the towering cedar; the earthquake muttering from beneath may rend the solid rock: or even when the wave reposes without a ripple or an undulation on the surface of the mountain lake, the stroke of death may come suddenly, the strong mans fortress may be powerless in an instant, as a woman in her travail, or as the infant just struggling into birth.
II. For all who will seek it there is a sure refuge, whatever may be the danger, and an invincible arm of defence, whoever may be we adversary. St. Paul indeed said, in reference to the times of fiery persecution in which his own lot was cast, that if in this life only they had hope in Christ, believers were of all men most miserable; but what was then the present distress, has happily passed away, and godliness is now truly profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. All creation is redolent of joy and peace to the true believer in Christ Jesus. He knows, that God hath made with him an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; that all His ways are mercy and truth, unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies; and that no truly good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. So long, then, as prosperity continues, enjoyment is enhanced by thankfulness; and when adversity comes upon him, suffering is lightened by faith. The light affliction, which is upon him, will, he knows, work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, etc. (T. Dale, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.