Jeremiah 22:6

KJV1611 – Modern English

For thus says the LORD to the house of the king of Judah; You are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

׃22 6 כִּֽי־כֹ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה עַל־בֵּית֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ יְהוּדָ֔ה גִּלְעָ֥ד אַתָּ֛ה לִ֖י רֹ֣אשׁ הַלְּבָנ֑וֹן אִם־לֹ֤א אֲשִֽׁיתְךָ֙ מִדְבָּ֔ר עָרִ֖ים לֹ֥א *נושבה **נוֹשָֽׁבוּ׃

Transliteration

For thus ʾāmar YHWH concerning bêt melek Yᵉhûdāh, Gilʿād you to me rōʾš hallᵉbānôn, if not ʾăšîtᵉkā midbār, ʿārîm not nôšābû.

Grammar Details

• *kî-kōh*: conjunction + adverb - for thus
• *ʾāmar*: perfect, 3rd masculine singular, qal - he said/spoke
• *YHWH*: proper noun - divine name
• *ʿal-bêt*: preposition + noun, masculine singular construct - concerning house of
• *melek*: noun, masculine singular construct - king of
• *Yᵉhûdāh*: proper noun - Judah
• *Gilʿād*: proper noun - Gilead
• *ʾattāh*: 2nd person masculine singular pronoun - you
• *lî*: preposition with 1st person singular suffix - to me
• *rōʾš*: noun, masculine singular construct - head of
• *ha-llᵉbānôn*: definite article + proper noun - the Lebanon
• *ʾim-lōʾ*: conditional particle + negative particle - if not (formula for oath)
• *ʾăšîtᵉkā*: imperfect, 1st singular with 2nd masculine singular suffix, qal - I will make you
• *midbār*: noun, masculine singular - wilderness/desert
• *ʿārîm*: noun, feminine plural - cities
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *nôšābû*: perfect, 3rd common plural, niphal - they are inhabited

Word Meanings

• *rōʾš*: head/top/summit
• *ʾăšîtᵉkā*: I will make you/set you/place you
• *midbār*: wilderness/desert/uninhabited land
• *nôšābû*: they are inhabited/settled/occupied

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah: Though you are like Gilead to me, like the peak of Lebanon, yet I will surely make you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  For thus saith{H559} Jehovah{H3068} concerning the house{H1004} of the king{H4428} of Judah:{H3063} Thou art Gilead{H1568} unto me, [and] the head{H7218} of Lebanon;{H3844} [yet] surely I will make{H7896} thee a wilderness,{H4057} [and] cities{H5892} which are not inhabited.{H3427}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  For thus saith{H559}{(H8804)} the LORD{H3068} unto the king's{H4428} house{H1004} of Judah{H3063}; Thou art Gilead{H1568} unto me, and the head{H7218} of Lebanon{H3844}: yet surely I will make{H7896}{(H8799)} thee a wilderness{H4057}, and cities{H5892} which are not inhabited{H3427}{(H8738)}{(H8675)}{H3427}{(H8737)}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  For thus hath the LORDE spoken vpon the kinges house of Iuda: Thou art the heade, as Galaad is in Libanus: What wilt thou laye of it, yf I make the not so waist (& thy cities also) that no man shal dwell there in?

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  For thus hath the Lorde spoken vpon the Kings house of Iudah, Thou art Gilead vnto me, & the head of Lebanon, yet surely I wil make thee a wildernes and as cities not inhabited,

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  For thus hath the Lorde spoken vppon the kynges of Iuda: Thou Gilead art vnto me the head of Libanus: Shall I not make thee so waste as the cities that no man dwell in?

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou [art] Gilead unto me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon; [yet] surely I will make you a wilderness, [and] cities which are not inhabited.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  For thus said Jehovah, Concerning the house of the king of Judah: Gilead `art' thou to Me -- head of Lebanon, If not -- I make thee a wilderness, Cities not inhabited.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, `and' the head of Lebanon; `yet' surely I will make thee a wilderness, `and' cities which are not inhabited.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, [and] the head of Lebanon; [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities which are not inhabited.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  For this is what the Lord has said about the family of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, and the top of Lebanon: but, truly, I will make you waste, with towns unpeopled.

• World English Bible (2000)

  For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon; [yet] surely I will make you a wilderness, [and] cities which are not inhabited.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  “‘For the LORD says concerning the palace of the king of Judah,“This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted.

Referenced Verses

• Ps 107:34 : 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell therein.
• Isa 6:11 : 11 Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are laid waste without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate,
• Isa 27:10 : 10 Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall it lie down and consume its branches.
• Mic 3:12 : 12 Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
• Jer 26:18 : 18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
• Gen 37:25 : 25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
• Jer 7:34 : 34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land will be desolate.
• Jer 9:11 : 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
• Jer 19:7-8 : 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives: and their corpses will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city desolate, and an object of scorn; everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
• Jer 21:11 : 11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the word of the LORD;
• Jer 21:14 : 14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.
• Jer 22:24 : 24 As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you thence;
• Jer 25:9-9 : 9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
• Jer 26:6-9 : 6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, You shall surely die. 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
• Deut 3:25 : 25 I pray you, let me cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon.
• Song 5:15 : 15 His legs are like pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
• Jer 4:20 : 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is ruined: suddenly my tents are ruined, and my curtains in a moment.
• Isa 24:1-6 : 1 Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters abroad its inhabitants. 2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. 3 The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the proud people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
• Ezek 33:27-28 : 27 Say thus to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. 28 For I will make the land most desolate, and the pride of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that no one shall pass through.