Jeremiah 21:14

and I will kindle, etc.] Cp. on Jeremiah 17:27.

in her forest i.e. Jerusalem, which is likened to a forest about to be wholly consumed by fire. For the same figure, representing in that case the people of Israel, cp. Isaiah 9:18. The expression does not mean literal trees, of which there was nothing like a forest in the neighbourhood of the city, but denotes either the houses clustering together like a forest, or, more generally, the beauty and grandeur of the place. Cp. for the general sense note on Gilead, etc. ch. Jeremiah 22:6; also Isaiah 10:34, where Sennacherib, king of Assyria, is likened to "the thickets of the forest," and to "Lebanon."