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.’”
Parallel translations
- WEB I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.’”
- KJV But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
- NKJV But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,” says the Lord; “I will kindle a fire in its forest, And it shall devour all things around it.” ’ ”
- NASB “But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the Lord, “And I will kindle a fire in its forest So that it may devour all its surroundings.” ’ ”
- NLT And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness, says the Lord. I will light a fire in your forests that will burn up everything around you.’”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will punish Jerusalem according to its deeds, kindling a fire that consumes everything around it. Judgment fits the people's sins.
Overview
The principle of judgment according to one's doings runs throughout Scripture and is here applied to the proud city. The fire in the forest pictures total, surrounding destruction of the palace complex and its cedar structures. This verse closes the oracle by affirming that God's justice is exact and inescapable, underscoring humanity's need for the mercy that only the gospel provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Isa 3:10–11Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Jer 32:19the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
- Prov 1:31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- Jer 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Jer 52:13He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- 2 Chr 36:19Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
- Isa 10:18–19The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.
- Gal 6:7–8Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Jer 9:25“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised yet uncircumcised:
- Ezek 20:46–48“Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.
- Jer 11:22So this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.
- Jer 6:29The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.
- Isa 27:10–11For 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.
- Isa 37:24Through 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.
- Isa 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
- Jer 22:7I 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.
- Isa 24:21In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.
- Zech 11:1Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 21:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.