Jeremiah 22
1 The LORD said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there:
This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there,
2 ‘Hear the LORD’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne—you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.
saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you and your officials and your people who enter these gates.
3 The LORD says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their servants, and their people.
For if you will indeed carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses—they and their officials and their people.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says the LORD, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”
But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself, declares the LORD, that this house will become a pile of rubble.’”
6 For the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’
And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God, worshiped other gods, and served them.’”
Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”
10 Do not weep for the dead. Do not bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country.
Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
11 For the LORD says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He will not return there any more.
For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return,
12 But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”
but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.”
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and does not give him his hire;
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’ and cuts out windows for himself, with a cedar ceiling, and painted with red.
who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.
15 “Should you reign because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Was not this to know me?” says the LORD.
He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.
17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”
18 Therefore the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They will not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They will not lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed.
Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.
I warned you when you were secure. You said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from youth, that you have not obeyed My voice.
22 The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.
The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.
23 Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
24 “As I live,” says the LORD, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there.
“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
25 I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans.
26 I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.
I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.
27 But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.”
You will never return to the land for which you long.”
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which no one delights? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and cast into a land which they do not know?
Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot, a jar that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they do not know?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the LORD’s word!
O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
30 The LORD says, “Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David’s throne and ruling in Judah.”
This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule again in Judah.”
