Jeremiah 13:22

Judgment

²⁰ Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?

²¹ What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor?

And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good— you who are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴ “I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
KJV: And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
WEB: If you say in your heart, “Why have these things come on me?” Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence.
ASV: And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence.
DARBY: And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, [and] thy heels have suffered violence.
BLB: And if you should say in your heart, “Why have these things happened to me?—[It is] by the abundance of your iniquity [that] your skirts have been uncovered [and] your heels have suffered violence.

ÅB: Og når du sier i ditt hjerte: Hvorfor har dette hendt meg? [så vit:] For dine mange misgjerningers skyld er kanten på din kjole løftet opp, dine hæler blottet med vold.
OTB: Og hvis du spør deg selv, "Hvorfor har dette skjedd med meg?"—det er på grunn av omfanget av dine synder at skjørtene dine har blitt revet av og kroppen din mishandlet.
B1930: Og når du sier i ditt hjerte: Hvorfor har dette hendt mig? [så vit:] For dine mange misgjerningers skyld er kanten på din kjole løftet op, dine hæler blottet med vold.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Nahum 3:5
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
Read in context
Jeremiah 16:10–11
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
Read in context
Jeremiah 5:19
And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
Read in context
Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 7:17
You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
Read in context
Hosea 2:10
And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:2–9
If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
Read in context
Jeremiah 13:26
So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
Read in context