Bible Strands
Jeremiah 22:6
For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to the royal house of Judah, delivering a judicial pronouncement immediately after warning that disobedience will reduce their palace to rubble. This oracle marks the moment of covenant indictment against Judah’s reigning dynasty.
The words — The term כֹּה (khoh) translates literally as “thus,” anchoring the declaration in divine authority, while בֵּית (beit) denotes the “house” or dynasty of the king. These lexical choices frame the oracle as an official royal decree issued by Yahweh.
The thread — The motif of transforming fertile regions into desolate places appears in Psalms 107:34 and Isaiah 27:10, where productive land becomes salt fields or abandoned wilderness. Isaiah 6:11 further parallels the image of cities left uninhabited as a consequence of divine judgment.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that divine favor can be withdrawn when covenant obligations are broken, replacing expected blessing with desolation. It requires the reader to confront the direct link between political leadership’s obedience and national survival.
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
For thus saith the Lord unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Cross-references
- Psalms 107:34 and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Isaiah 27:10 For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
- Jeremiah 9:11 “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Micah 3:12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Genesis 37:25 And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
- Jeremiah 7:34 I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
- Jeremiah 26:18 “Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’
- Deuteronomy 3:25 Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that pleasant hill country as well as Lebanon!”
- Song of Solomon 5:15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.