Jeremiah 22
1 This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there,
Thus said the Lord, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word;
2 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.
And thou shalt say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
3 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.
Thus hath said the Lord, Execute ye justice and righteousness, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor; and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow shall ye not oppress, and do them no violence, and shed no innocent blood in this place.
4 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.
For if ye indeed will do this thing, then shall enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting after David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 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.’”
But if ye will not hear these words, then do I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a ruin.
6 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.
For thus hath said the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah, A Gil'ad [though] thou art unto me, a summit of the Lebanon: yet I will surely change thee into a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
7 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.
And I will make ready against thee destroyers, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down the choice of thy cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
And [when] many nations [then] pass by this city, they will say every man to his neighbor, Wherefore hath the Lord done the like unto this great city?
9 Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”
Then shall they say, Because they had forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and bowed down unto other gods, and served them.
10 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.
Weep not for the dead, and do not bemoan him: weep sorely for him that goeth away; for he shall never return any more, and see the land of his birth.
11 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,
For thus hath said the Lord respecting Shallum the son of Josiah the king of Judah, who reigneth in the place of Josiah his father, who is gone forth out of this place, He shall never return thither any more;
12 but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.”
But in the place whither they have led him into exile, there shall he die; but this land shall he not see any more.
13 “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,
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that maketh his neighbor work without wages, and giveth him not the reward for his labor;
14 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.
That saith, I will build me a roomy house, and ample chambers, and cutteth himself out windows, and ceileth it with cedar, and painteth it with colors.
15 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.
Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel with cedar buildings? behold, thy father ate and drank, but he executed justice and righteousness: then was it well with him!
16 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.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then was it well: is not this the proper knowledge of me? saith the Lord.
17 “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”
But thy eyes and thy heart are directed on nothing but upon thy own gain, and upon innocent blood to shed it, and upon oppression, and upon extortion, to practise them.
18 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!’
Therefore thus hath said the Lord concerning Jehoyakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah, They shall not lament for him, with, “Woe, my brother!” and, “Woe, sister!” they shall not lament for him, with “Woe, lord!” and, “Woe, to his glory!”
19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
With the burial of an ass shall he be buried, dragged about and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
Ascend the Lebanon, and cry aloud; and let thy voice resound in Bashan; and cry aloud from 'Aharim; for crushed are all thy lovers.
21 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.
I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy very youth, that thou didst not hearken to my voice.
22 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.
The wind shall scatter abroad all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded because of all thy wickedness.
23 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.”
O inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how full of grace wilt thou be! when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 “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.
As I live, saith the Lord, though Conyahu the son of Jehoyakim the king of Judah were a signet upon my right hand, yet for a surety would I thence pluck thee;
25 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.
And I will give thee into the hand of those that seek thy life, and into the hand of those of whom thou art afraid, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 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.
And I will hurl thee out, and thy mother that hath born thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27 You will never return to the land for which you long.”
But to the land whitherward they direct their soul to return, thither shall they not return.
28 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?
Is this man Conyahu a despised broken image? or a vessel without value? wherefore are they hurled out, he and his seed, and are cast forth into a land which they know not?
29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
O land, land, land! hear the word of the Lord.
30 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.”
Thus hath said the Lord, Write ye down this man as childless, as a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall succeed to sit upon the throne of David, and to rule any more in Judah.
