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 Yahweh, Go thou down to the house of king of Judah, and speak thou 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 thou the word of Yahweh O king of Judah who sittest upon the throne of David, —thou, and thy servants and thy people who enter in at 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, saith Yahweh, —Execute ye justice, and righteousness, And deliver the robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, —But the sojourner the fatherless, and the widow, do not oppress neither commit violence, And the blood of the innocent, do not ye shed, 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, indeed do, this thing, then shall there enter into the gates of this house—kings, sitting for David upon his throne 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, By myself have I sworn Declareth Yahweh—That, a ruin, shall this house become.
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, saith Yahweh Concerning the house of the king of Judah, —Though thou wast Gilead, to me, The summit of Lebanon, Yet surely I will make thee, A wilderness, Cities, not habitable;
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 hallow against thee Destroyers Every man with his weapons, —And they shall cut down of the choicest of thy cedars, and cast upon 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?
Then shall many nations pass by this city, —and shall say, every man to his neighbour, For what cause, hath Yahweh done thus, unto 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.
And they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh, their God, —And bowed down to 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.
Do not ye lament for him that is dead Neither bemoan ye, him, But weep ye—weep on—for him that is going away, For he shall not return any more Nor see the land of his birth.
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, saith Yahweh—Touching Shallum, son of Josiah king of Judah, That reigneth instead of Josiah his father, Who hath gone forth out of this place, He shall not return thither 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.
For in the place whither they have taken him captive, There, shall he die, —And this land, shall he see 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;
Alas! for him who buildeth his house without righteousness, And his roof-chambers without justice, —Of his neighbour, taketh service for nought, And recompense for his work, giveth him not.
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 saith—I will build me a roomy house, with spacious roof-chambers, —So he cutteth him open its windows, And it is covered in with cedar, And he painteth it 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?
Shalt thou reign, because, thou, art eager to excel in cedar? Thy father, did he not eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness, And, 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.
[Did he not] plead the cause of the oppressed and the needy, And, then, it was well? Was not, that, to know, me? Demandeth Yahweh.
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.
Verily thou hast neither eyes nor heart, save for thy plundering and for thy shedding of innocent blood, and for oppression and for crushing to do them!
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, saith Yahweh, Touching Jehoiakim son of Josiah King of Judah, They shall not cry in lament for him Alas my brother! or Alas sister! They shall not cry in lament for him Alas lord! or Alas! his renown!
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.
With the burial of an ass, shall he be buried, Dragged along 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
Ascend the Lebanon and make outcry, And in Bashan, put forth thy voice, —And make outcry from Abarim, For all thy lovers are torn in pieces.
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 spake unto thee, in thy carelessness, —Thou saidst I will not hearken! This hath been thy way from thy youth, That thou hast not hearkened to 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.
All thy shepherds, the wind shall feed, And, thy lovers into captivity, shall depart, —Surely, then shalt thou turn pale and be confounded, by reason of 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 inhabitress of Lebanon that makest thy nest in the cedars, —How hast thou bemoaned thyself Now that pangs have overtaken thee, Anguish, as of her that giveth birth.
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, Declareth Yahweh, —Even though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet-ring upon my right hand, yet, from thence, would I pull thee off;
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 would give thee into the hand of them who seek thy life and into the hand of them from the face of whom, thou dost shrink in fear, —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 hurl thee out and thy mother who bare thee, upon another land where ye were not born, —and, there, shall ye die.
27 But to the land on which their soul's desire is fixed, they will never come back.
But unto the land whither they shall be lifting up their souls to return, thither, shall they 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?
An earthen vessel to be despised thrown about, is this man Coniah? Or an instrument, in which is no pleasure? Wherefore are they to be cast out, he and his seed, and to be thrown forth upon a land which they have not known?
29 O earth, earth, earth, give ear to the word of the Lord!
O land, land, land! Hear thou the word of Yahweh!
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, saith Yahweh, —Register ye this man, childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days, —For there shall prosper of his seed No man sitting upon the throne of David, Or ruling any more over Judah.
