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.
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.’”
- 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 3:10–11Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
- Jer 32:19Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
- Prov 1:31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- Jer 17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
- Jer 52:13And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
- 2 Chr 36:19And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
- Isa 10:18–19And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.
- Gal 6:7–8Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
- Jer 9:25Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
- Ezek 20:46–48Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
- Jer 11:22Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, 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 are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
- Isa 27:10–11Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
- Isa 37:24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
- Isa 10:12Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
- Jer 22:7And 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.
- Isa 24:21And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
- Zech 11:1Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy 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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