Jeremiah 22:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 22:13
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
house
בֵיתוֹ֙vei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
by
בְּֽלֹאbe.lo'-
H3808
not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
unrighteousness
צֶ֔דֶקTze.dek
H6664
the right (natural · noun, common masculine singular absolute
chambers
וַעֲלִיּוֹתָ֖יוva.'a.li.yo.Tav
H5944
something lofty · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
wrong
מִשְׁפָּ֑טmish.Pat
H4941
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
neighbour’s
בְּרֵעֵ֙הוּ֙be.re.'E.hu
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
service
יַעֲבֹ֣דya.'a.Vod
H5647
to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wages
חִנָּ֔םchi.Nam
H2600
gratis · adverb
giveth
יִתֶּןyi.ten-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
work
וּפֹעֲל֖וֹu.fo.'a.Lo
H6467
an act or work (concretely) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 19:13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Micah 3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
James 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which…
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land with…
Malachi 3:5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false…
Habakkuk 2:9-11 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evi…
2 Chronicles 36:4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his…
Jeremiah 22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 22:10-19
Kings, though they are gods to us, are men to God, and shall die like men; so it appears in these verses, where we have a sentence of death passed upon two kings who reigned successively in Jerusalem, two brothers, and both the ungracious sons of a very pious father.
I. Here is the doom of Shallum, who doubtless is the same with Jehoahaz, for he is that son of Josiah king of Judah who reigned in the stead of Josiah his father (Jer 22:11), which Jehoahaz did by the act of the people, who made him king though he was not the eldest son, Kg2 23:30; Ch2 36:1. Among the sons of Josiah (Ch1 3:15) there is one Shallum mentioned, and not Jehoahaz. Perhaps the people preferred him before his elder bro…
Not only did Jehoiakim tax the people (Kg2 23:35) for Pharaoh's tribute, but also took their forced labor, without pay, for building a splendid palace; in violation of Lev 19:13; Deu 24:14-15. Compare Mic 3:10; Hab 2:9; Jam 5:4. God will repay in justice those who will not in justice pay those whom they employ.
John Gill on Jeremiah 22:13
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by righteousness, and his chambers by wrong,.... This respects Jehoiakim, the then reigning king; who, not content with the palace the kings of Judah before him had lived in, built another; or however enlarged that, and made great alterations in it; but this he did either with money ill gotten, or perverted to a wrong use, which ought to have been otherwise laid out; or by not paying for the materials of whom they were bought, or the workmen for their workmanship; and perhaps this may be the reason why so much notice is taken of the king's house or palace in the former part of the chapter, and why it is threatened with desolation, Jeremiah 22:1;
that use…
Jeremiah 22:13
13. Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
13. Ileus qui aedificat domum suam in non justitia, (hoc est, injuste,) et coenacula sua in non judicio (hoc est, sine rectitudine et aequitate;) proximum suum servire facit gratis, et opus ejus non reddit ei (vel, quod ille operatus fuerit non reddit ei; (vel, quod ille operatus fuerit non reddit ei; quidam enim volunt esse verbum, alii nomen, sed idem manebit sensus).
The Prophet begins here to shew that it could not be otherwise but that the king's palace as well as Jerusalem must be destroyed, for thei…
The Church Fathers
But such a house as this sensual persons, they who dwell in cieled houses and delight in chased silver, do not build. For as they despise pure silver, so also they despise simple dwellings. They enlarge the site of their houses, they add more and more, joining house to house and farm to farm, they dig up the ground; so that the very earth itself gives way to their habitations, and like sons of the earth they are laid up within her womb, and hidden in her bowels. They surely are those of whom Jeremiah says, "Woe unto him that buildeth his house in unrighteousness." For he who builds in righteousness, builds not on earth but in heaven.
The apostle indicated the one who builds a house with righteousness when he said, "You are a field of God, a building of God." But he also says that no one can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds, and so on. Therefore, through the one who taught him, the believer has Christ Jesus as a foundation. And if any person builds well, it is with gold, the teachings of truth; silver, the saving word; precious stones, a structure built from virtues. And if anyone builds in an evil way by building what is bad for Jesus—I mean wood, hay and stubble—how is he not impious? It is for him that the threat comes: Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness! The one who makes a structure up high, yet not according to reason and truth of God, does not make the upper chambers in judgment. And similarly one can also view those who teach either a true or a falsely called knowledge. Paul builds the house, the church, with righteousness, he builds the upper chambers; Timothy and Luke and those such as them, in judgment.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
House — Till their sojourn in Egypt the Hebrews dwelt in tents. They then for the first time inhabited cities (Gen. 47:3; Ex. 12:7; Heb. 11:9). From the earliest times the Assyrians and the Canaanites were…
Wages — Rate of (mention only in Matt. 20:2); to be punctually paid (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14, 15); judgements threatened against the withholding of (Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; comp. James 5:4); paid in money…
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Employer · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Injustice · Specially to be avoided towards: Servants — Specially to be avoided towards: Servants
Jehoiakim · Wicked reign and final overthrow of — Wicked reign and final overthrow of
Labor · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Master · SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS — SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS
Rich, The · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Wages · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The woe uttered upon Jehoiakim. - Jer 22:13. "Woe unto him that buildeth his house with unrighteousness and his upper chambers with wrong, that maketh his fellow labour for nought, and giveth him not his hire; Jer 22:14. That saith: I will build me a wide house and spacious upper chambers, and cutteth him out many windows, and covereth it with cedars, and painteth it with vermilion. Jer 22:15. Art thou a king of thou viest in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do right and justice? Then it went well with him. Jer 22:16. He did justice to the poor and wretched, then it was well. Is not this to know me? saith Jahveh. Jer 22:17. For on nothing are thine eyes and thy heart set but on g…
Egypt placed another of Josiah’s sons, Eliakim, on the throne in Jerusalem. His name was changed to Jehoiakim. Most of the material in chs 7–20 was probably written during Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC). The Lord indicted him because of his faithlessness and greed, brought him to trial, declared him guilty, and pronounced the death penalty against him.
22:13 Because Jehoiakim forced poor men to work as slaves with no pay, his building projects had injustice built into their walls.
Rashi on Jeremiah 22:13
Woe to him who builds his house He is saying this about Jehoiakim, who was a wicked man, and the end of the section proves this: “Therefore, so said the Lord about Jehoiakim.”
