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.’”
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.’”
- 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 “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
- Jer 32:19great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
- Prov 1:31Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
- Jer 17:10“I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Jer 52:13He burned Yahweh’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
- 2 Chr 36:19They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels.
- Isa 10:18–19He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints.
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Jer 9:25“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:
- Ezek 20:46–48“Son of man, set your face toward the south, and preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
- Jer 11:22therefore Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
- Jer 6:29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Isa 27:10–11For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
- Isa 37:24By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.
- Isa 10:12Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.
- Jer 22:7I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
- Isa 24:21It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
- Zech 11:1Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour 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
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