I 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
- KJV And 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.
- NKJV I will prepare destroyers against you, Everyone with his weapons; They shall cut down your choice cedars And cast them into the fire.
- NASB “For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.
- NLT I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.
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 commission destroyers to cut down the palace's prized cedars and burn them. The very symbols of royal pride will be consumed.
Overview
The choice cedars represented the splendor and self-confidence of the monarchy, but God appoints destroyers, the Babylonians, to fell and burn them. This continues the forest imagery to depict total devastation of the royal estate. The passage exposes the emptiness of trusting in luxury and human achievement, directing hope instead toward a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 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 10:33–34Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
- Jer 4:6–7Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.
- Isa 13:3–5I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jer 21:14I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”
- Ezek 9:1–7Then I heard Him call out in a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with a weapon of destruction in hand.”
- Matt 22:7The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
- Zech 11:1Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
- 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 54:16–17Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
- Jer 5:15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
- Jer 50:20–23In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, a search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah’s sins, but they will not be found; for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.
- Isa 10:3–7What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:7 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.