Jeremiah 22
1 Thus says the Lord: “Descend to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word.
Thus said Jehovah: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2 And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David: you and your servants, and your people, who enter through these gates.
Say, 'Hear the word of Jehovah, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.
3 Thus says the Lord: Exercise judgment and justice, and free anyone who is oppressed by violence from the hand of a false accuser. And do not be willing to sadden the new arrival, or the orphan, or the widow, nor should you burden them unfairly. And you shall not shed innocent blood in this place.
Thus says Jehovah: "Execute 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 foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you will indeed accomplish this word, then there will enter through the gates of this house kings from the stock of David, sitting on his throne, and riding on chariots and on horses: they, and their servants, and their people.
For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if you will not listen to these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house will be in desolation.
But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation."
6 For thus says the Lord about the house of the king of Judah: You are to me like Gilead, the head of Lebanon. Certainly, I will make you desolate, with uninhabitable cities.
For thus says Jehovah 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.
7 And I will sanctify over you the destroying man and his weapons. And they will cut down your select cedars and throw them violently into the fire.
I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations will pass through this city. And each one will say to his neighbor: ‘Why has the Lord acted in this way toward this great city?’
Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, 'Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city?'
9 And they will answer: ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and they adored strange gods and served them.’
Then they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.'
10 You should not choose to weep for the dead, nor should you mourn over them with tears. Lament for him who is departing, for he will return no more, nor will he see his native land again.
Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."
11 For thus says the Lord to Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father, who has departed from this place: He will not return here again.
For thus says Jehovah touching 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 Instead, he will die in the place to which I have transferred him, and he will not see this land anymore.
But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more."
13 Woe to one who builds his house with injustice and his upper rooms without judgment, who oppresses his friend without cause and does not pay him his wages.
Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire;
14 And he says: ‘I will build a broad house for myself, with spacious upper rooms.’ He makes windows for himself, and he builds the roof out of cedar, and he paints it with red ocher.
who says, "I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms," and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Will you reign because you compare yourself to the cedar? Did your father not eat and drink, and act with judgment and justice, so that it would be well with him?
Shall 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.
16 He judged the case of the poor and the indigent for their good. Was this not because he knew me, says the Lord?
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me?' says Jehovah.
17 Yet truly, your eyes and your heart are toward avarice and the shedding of innocent blood, and toward false accusations and the pursuit of evil deeds.
"But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it."
18 Because of this, thus says the Lord toward Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him by saying, ‘Alas,’ to a brother, or, ‘Alas,’ to a sister. They will not make a noise for him and say, ‘Alas,’ to a master, or, ‘Alas,’ to a nobleman.
Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "they shall not lament for him, saying, 'Alas my brother. or, Alas sister.' They shall not lament for him, saying, 'Alas lord.' or, 'Alas his majesty.'
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, having rotted and been thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem.
He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Ascend to Lebanon and cry out! And utter your voice in Bashan, and cry out to those passing by. For all your lovers have been crushed.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your abundance, and you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, for you have not listened to my voice.
I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, 'I will not hear.' This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.
22 The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. And then you will be confounded, and you will be ashamed of all your wickedness.
The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.
23 You who sit in Lebanon, and who nest in the cedars, in what way did you mourn when suffering came to you, like the suffering of a woman giving birth?
Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly you will groan when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail.
24 As I live, says the Lord, if Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a ring on my right hand, I would remove him from there.
As I live," says Jehovah, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you there;
25 And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you dread, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
and I will 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.
26 And I will send you, and your mother who conceived you, into a foreign land, in which you were not born, and there you shall die.
I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.
27 And to the land about which they lift up their mind, thinking to return there, they shall not return.
But to the land whereunto their soul longs to return, there shall they not return."
28 Is this man, Jeconiah, a broken earthenware vessel? Is he a vessel which is entirely unpleasing? Why have they been cast out, he and his offspring, cast out even into a land that they have not known?
Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, and cast into a land that they do not know?
29 O earth, O earth, O earth! Listen to the word of the Lord!
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.
30 Thus says the Lord: Write: this man is barren; he is a man who will not prosper in his days. For there will not be a man from among his offspring who will sit upon the throne of David, or have authority in Judah, anymore.”
Thus says Jehovah, "Write this man down childless, a man who will not succeed in his days; for none of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.
