Bible Strands
Jeremiah 22:17
“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah delivers this oracle to King Jehoiakim of Judah, directly contrasting his self-serving rule with his father Josiah’s justice toward the poor and needy.
The words — The Hebrew construction אֵין עֵינֶיךָ וְלִבְּךָ כִּי אִם־עַל־בִּצְעֶךָ ('ein 'e.nekha ve.li.be.kha ki 'im-'al-bitz.'ekha) literally states "there are not your eyes and your heart except on your unjust gain."
The thread — This indictment of greed and violence mirrors Jeremiah 22:3’s command to rescue the oppressed, aligns with 2 Kings 24:4’s record of Jehoiakim filling Jerusalem with innocent blood, and echoes Ezekiel 19:6’s portrait of a ruler who devours the people.
Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to examine whether leadership serves public justice or private enrichment, demonstrating that rulers who practice extortion forfeit both divine approval and public honor.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 24:4 and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.
- Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
- Ezekiel 19:6 He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
- 2 Peter 2:14 Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
- Psalms 10:3 For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
- Ezekiel 33:31 So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.
- Exodus 18:21 Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
- 1 Kings 21:19 Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
- 2 Chronicles 36:8 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and all that was found against him, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.