Jeremiah 22:14 - Exposition

A wide house ; literally, a house of extensions . Large chambers . The Hebrew specifies "upper chambers "—the principal rooms in ancient houses. Cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar ; rather … his windows , roofing it with cedar. "Cutteth out" is, literally, rendeth ; it is the word used in Jeremiah 4:30 of the apparent enlargement of the eyes by putting powdered antimony upon the eyelids. Windows are, as it were, the eyes of a building (Graf compares Ecclesiastes 12:3 ). Beams of cedar wood were used for the roof of the palace, as being the most costly and durable (comp. Isaiah 9:10 ). And painted —rather, and painting it— with vermilion ; a taste derived from the Egyptians rather than the Babylonians, who seem to have had a difficulty in procuring red.