Jeremiah 22:3-5

Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgment, &c. That is, administer justice to all your subjects. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow are particularly named, as persons who have the fewest friends, and therefore are the most exposed to the tyranny, injustice, and oppression of the great. And do no wrong, do no violence, &c. Compare Jeremiah 22:17, where we find Jehoiakim charged with these sins. For if ye do this thing indeed If ye will, not in pretence, but reality, do what is just and right to every one, and see that inferior magistrates, acting under you do so too; then shall there enter, &c. See the note on Jeremiah 17:25, where, instead of the gates of this house, the text reads, the gates of this city. And the context here shows, that the prophecy is directed, not only to the king's court in particular, but likewise to the whole city of Jerusalem, one part of which was called the city of David; and the whole looked upon as a royal city, and the place of their king's residence. Kings sitting upon the throne of David, &c. There shall then be a succession of kings, and that uninterrupted, reigning in Judah, of David's line, kings who shall enjoy a perfect tranquillity, and live in great state and dignity. But if ye will not hear these words That is, if ye will not so hear as to obey them. I swear by myself, saith the Lord That is, I resolve absolutely upon it; for God is not in Scripture said to swear, unless as speaking after the manner of men, and according to the actions of men; so that whenever this expression is employed, it is only to signify, that God would not revoke the thing spoken of, but that it should be immutable. Here, therefore, it implies that the sentence pronounced should certainly be executed, and that nothing could reverse it but the people's sincere repentance, which condition is expressed in the foregoing part of the verse. See Hebrews 6:17. This house shall become a desolation This palace, of the kings of Judah shall fare no better than other habitations in Jerusalem, sin as certainly effecting the ruin of the houses of princes as those of mean men.