I will prepare destroyers against you, Everyone with his weapons; They shall cut down your choice cedars And cast 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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 37:24By 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 10:33–34Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
- Jer 4:6–7Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
- Isa 13:3–5I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones.
- Jer 21:14I 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.’”
- Ezek 9:1–7Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.”
- Matt 22:7When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
- Zech 11:1Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.
- 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 54:16–17“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
- Jer 5:15Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know, neither understand what they say.
- Jer 50:20–23In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there will be none; also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
- Isa 10:3–7What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
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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.