Jeremiah 22
1 This is what the Lord has said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there give him this word,
Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2 And say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, seated on the seat of David, you and your servants and your people who come in by these doors.
and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in by these gates.
3 This is what the Lord has said: Do what is right, judging uprightly, and make free from the hands of the cruel one him whose goods have been violently taken away: do no wrong and be not violent to the man from a strange country and the child without a father and the widow, and let not those who have done no wrong be put to death in this place.
Thus says Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness. And deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong. Do no violence to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you truly do this, then there will come in through the doors of this house kings seated on the seat of David, going in carriages and on horseback, he and his servants and his people
For if ye do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if you do not give ear to these words, I give you my oath by myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a waste.
But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For this is what the Lord has said about the family of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, and the top of Lebanon: but, truly, I will make you waste, with towns unpeopled.
For thus says Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will make ready those who will send destruction on you, everyone armed for war: by them your best cedar-trees will be cut down and put in the fire.
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And nations from all sides will go past this town, and every man will say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done such things to this great town?
And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each man to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city?
9 And they will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord their God, and became worshippers and servants of other gods.
Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.
10 Let there be no weeping for the dead, and make no songs of grief for him: but make bitter weeping for him who has gone away, for he will never come back or see again the country of his birth.
Weep ye not for him who is dead, nor bemoan him. But weep greatly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For this is what the Lord has said about Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: He will never come back there again:
For thus says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there any more.
12 But death will come to him in the place where they have taken him away prisoner, and he will never see this land again.
But in the place where they have led him captive, there he shall die, and he shall see this land no more.
13 A curse is on him who is building his house by wrongdoing, and his rooms by doing what is not right; who makes use of his neighbour without payment, and gives him nothing for his work;
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and gives him not his hire,
14 Who says, I will make a wide house for myself, and rooms of great size, and has windows cut out, and has it roofed with cedar and painted with bright red.
who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts out windows for himself, and it is overlaid with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Are you to be a king because you make more use of cedar than your father? did not your father take food and drink and do right, judging in righteousness, and then it was well for him?
Shall thou reign, because thou strive to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
16 He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy man, then it was well. Was not this to know me? says Jehovah.
17 But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.
But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 They will do to him what they do to the dead body of an ass; his body will be pulled out and placed on the earth outside the doors of Jerusalem.
He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and give a cry; let your voice be loud in Bashan, crying out from Abarim; for all your lovers have come to destruction
Go up to Lebanon, and cry. And lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim. For all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 My word came to you in the time of your well-being; but you said, I will not give ear. This has been your way from your earliest years, you did not give attention to my voice.
I spoke to thee in thy prosperity, but thou said, I will not hear. This has been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyed not my voice.
22 All the keepers of your sheep will be food for the wind, and your lovers will be taken away prisoners: truly, then you will be shamed and unhonoured because of all your evil-doing.
The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy loved ones shall go into captivity. Surely then thou shall be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23 O you who are living in Lebanon, making your living-place in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied will you be when pains come on you, as on a woman in childbirth!
O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied thou shall be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 By my life, says the Lord, even if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was the ring on my right hand, even from there I would have you pulled off;
As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck thee from there,
25 And I will give you into the hands of those desiring your death, and into the hands of those whom you are fearing, even into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldaeans.
and I will give thee into the hand of those who seek thy life, and into the hand of those of whom thou are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 I will send you out, and your mother who gave you birth, into another country not the land of your birth; and there death will come to you.
And I will cast thee out, and thy mother who bore thee, into another country where ye were not born, and there ye shall die.
27 But to the land on which their soul's desire is fixed, they will never come back.
But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they shall not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a broken vessel of no value? is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? why are they violently sent out, he and his seed, into a land which is strange to them?
Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, give ear to the word of the Lord!
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.
30 The Lord has said, Let this man be recorded as having no children, a man who will not do well in all his life: for no man of his seed will do well, seated on the seat of the kingdom of David and ruling again in Judah.
Thus says Jehovah: Write ye this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days. For no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.
