Bible Strands
Jeremiah 22:8
And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces impending judgment to the kings and inhabitants of Jerusalem regarding the destruction of the capital. The prophecy addresses a period of active covenant unfaithfulness when Judah's leadership has abandoned Yahweh's commands.
The words — The Hebrew גּוֹיִם (goyim) means "nations," paired with רַבִּים (rabim) for "many." The verb עָֽבְרוּ (‘aḇəru) translates literally as "they will pass by," describing travelers or armies surveying the aftermath.
The thread — This depiction of widespread ruin aligns with the warnings in 1 Kings 9:8, 2 Chronicles 7:20, and Deuteronomy 29:23 concerning the temple's collapse and the land's transformation into a burning waste.
Why it lands — The verse records foreign observers asking why the LORD brought such destruction before the surrounding context supplies the cause. Readers must trace the direct line from covenant abandonment and idolatry to the resulting national collapse.
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 many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 9:8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
- 2 Chronicles 7:20 then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
- Deuteronomy 29:23 All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- Lamentations 2:15 All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”
- Jeremiah 16:10 When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
- Lamentations 4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
- Daniel 9:7 To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.