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 YHWH: “Go down [to] the house of the king of Judah, and you have spoken this word there, and have said,
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.
Hear a word of YHWH, O king of Judah, who are sitting on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people, who are coming in at 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 said YHWH: “Do judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, you do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood you do not shed 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 you certainly do this thing, Then kings sitting for David on his throne Have come in by the gates of this house, Riding on chariot, 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.’”
And if you do not hear these words, I have sworn by Myself,” A declaration of YHWH, “That this house is for a desolation.”
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 said YHWH concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You [are] Gilead to Me—head of Lebanon, If not—I make you a wilderness, Cities [that] 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 have separated destroyers for you, Each with his weapons, And they have cut down the choice of your cedars, And have cast them on 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 many nations have passed by this city, And they have each said to his neighbor, “Why has YHWH done thus to 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.’”
And they have said, “Because that they have forsaken The covenant of their God YHWH, And bow themselves to other gods, and serve 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.
You do not weep for the dead, nor bemoan for him, Weep severely for the traveler, For he does not return again, Nor has he seen 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 said YHWH concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who is reigning instead of his father Josiah, who has gone forth from this place: “He does not return here again;
12 but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.”
For he dies in the place to where they have removed him, And he does not see this land again.
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 to him who is building his house by unrighteousness, And his upper chambers by injustice, He lays service on his neighbor for nothing, And he does not give his wage to him.
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.
Who is saying, I build a large house for myself, And airy upper chambers, And he has cut out its windows for himself, Covered with cedar, and painted with vermillion.
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.
Do you reign, because you are fretting yourself in cedar? Your father—did he not eat and drink? Indeed, he did judgment and righteousness, Then [it is] 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 decided the cause of the poor and needy, Then [it is] well—is it not to know Me?” A declaration of YHWH.
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 your eyes and your heart are not, Except on your dishonest gain, And on shedding of innocent blood, And on oppression, and on doing of violence.”
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 said YHWH concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They do not lament for him, Oh, my brother! And, Oh, my sister! They do not lament for him, Oh, lord! And, Oh, his splendor!
19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
He is buried [with] the burial of a donkey, Dragged and cast out there to 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.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry, And give forth your voice in Bashan, And cry from Abarim, For all loving you have been destroyed.
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 have spoken to you in your ease, You have said, I do not listen, This [is] your way from your youth, For you have not listened 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.
Wind consumes all your friends, And your lovers go into captivity, Surely then you are ashamed, And have blushed for all your 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 dweller in Lebanon, making a nest among cedars, How gracious have you been when pangs come to you, Pain—as of a travailing woman.”
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,” A declaration of YHWH, “Though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah was a seal on My right hand, surely there I draw you away,
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 have given you into the hand of those seeking your life, And into hands of which you are afraid, Into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar 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 have cast you, And your mother who bore you, to another country, Where you were not born, and you die there.
27 You will never return to the land for which you long.”
And to the land to where they are lifting up their soul to return, They do not return there.”
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?
A grief—a despised broken thing—is this man Coniah? A vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why have they been cast up and down, He and his seed, Indeed, were they cast on to a land that they did not know?
29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
Earth, earth, earth, hear a word of YHWH!
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 said YHWH: “Write this man down [as] childless, A man—he does not prosper in his days, For none of his seed prospers, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling in Judah again!”
