Bible Strands
Jeremiah 22:7
I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Jeremiah to the royal house of Judah, pronouncing judgment immediately after comparing the kingdom to Lebanon in Jeremiah 22:6. This declaration occurs during a period of escalating covenant failure, warning the ruling dynasty of imminent collapse.
The words — The Hebrew מַשְׁחִתִים (mashchitim) means "destroyers" or "executioners," denoting instruments of ruin. The verb קִדַּשְׁתִּי (qiddashti) translates literally as "I will consecrate," indicating that these forces are formally set apart by God for this specific act of judgment.
The thread — The motif of felling great trees to symbolize fallen power recurs in Isaiah 10:33 and Isaiah 37:24. Jeremiah 4:6 reinforces this trajectory by signaling that the announced disaster is already advancing from the north.
Why it lands — The text states that God will actively deploy armed destroyers to cut down and burn the kingdom's most valuable resources. It demands acknowledgment that political pride and national wealth are subject to divine reversal when covenant loyalty is abandoned.
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
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 10:33 Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
- Isaiah 37:24 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
- Jeremiah 4:6 Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.
- Isaiah 13:3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jeremiah 21:14 I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”
- Ezekiel 9:1 Then I heard Him call out in a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with a weapon of destruction in hand.”
- Isaiah 10:3 What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
- 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.
- Isaiah 54:16 Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
- Jeremiah 5:15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.