Bible Strands
Jeremiah 6:6
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD of Hosts speaks through Jeremiah to Judah during a prophetic declaration of imminent foreign invasion. The message immediately follows a military command to attack Jerusalem by night and dismantle its fortifications.
The words — כִּרְת֣וּ (kir.Tu) literally means "cut down," and עֵצָ֔ה ('e.Tzah) translates as "wood" or "trees," specifying the materials for siege engines. וְ/שִׁפְכ֥וּ (ve./shif.Khu) literally means "and pour out," echoing the well imagery in the adjacent verses.
The thread — The directive to harvest trees for siege works stands in direct tension with Deuteronomy 20:19, which prohibits cutting down fruit trees during a prolonged campaign. The physical reality of siege ramps reappears in Jeremiah 32:24, where they are already positioned against the city walls.
Why it lands — The text states that Jerusalem’s internal oppression is the direct cause of the coming external punishment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment operates through historical military action rather than abstract moral warning.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 20:19 When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?
- Jeremiah 32:24 See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!