Jeremiah 22

1 Thus said the Lord, Goe downe to the house of the King of Iudah, and speake there this thing,

Thus says the Lord; Go you, and go down to the house of the king of Juda, and you shall speak there this word,

2 And say, Heare the worde of the Lord, O King of Iudah, that sittest vpon the throne of Dauid, thou and thy seruants, and thy people that enter in by these gates.

and you shall say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sit on the throne of David, you, and your house, and your people, and they that go in at these gates:

3 Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye iudgement and righteousnes, and deliuer the oppressed from the hande of the oppressor, and vexe not the stranger, the fatherlesse, nor the widowe: doe no violence, nor sheade innocent blood in this place.

thus says the Lord; Execute you judgment and justice, and rescue the spoiled out of the hand of him that wrongs him: and oppress not the stranger, and orphan, and widow, and sin not, and shed no innocent blood in this place.

4 For if ye do this thing, then shall the kings sitting vpon the throne of Dauid enter in by the gates of this House, and ride vpon charets, and vpon horses, both he and his seruants and his people.

For if you will indeed perform this word, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, and riding on chariots and horses, they, and their servants, and their people.

5 But if ye will not heare these wordes, I sweare by my selfe, saith the Lord, that this House shalbe waste.

But if you will not perform these words, by myself have I sworn, says the Lord, that this house shall be [brought] to desolation.

6 For thus hath the Lord spoken vpon the Kings house of Iudah, Thou art Gilead vnto me, and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I wil make thee a wildernes and as cities not inhabited,

For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Juda; You are Galaad to me, [and] the head of Libanus: [yet] surely I will make you a desert, [even] cities that shall not be inhabited:

7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, euery one with his weapons, and they shall cut downe thy chiefe cedar trees, and cast them in the fire.

and I will bring upon you a destroying man, and his axe: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

8 And many nations shall passe by this citie, and they shall say euery man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus vnto this great citie?

And nations shall pass through this city, and each shall say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?

9 Then shall they answere, Because they haue forsaken the couenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and serued them.

And they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped strange gods, and served them.

10 Weepe not for the dead, and be not moued for them, but weepe for him that goeth out: for he shall returne no more, nor see his natiue countrey.

Weep not for the dead, nor lament for him: weep bitterly for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native land.

11 For thus saith ye Lord, As touching Shallum the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah, which reigned for Iosiah his father, which went out of this place, he shall not returne thither,

For thus says the Lord concerning Sellem the son of Josias, who reigns in the place of Josias his father, who has gone forth out of this place; He shall not return there any more:

12 But he shall die in the place, whither they haue ledde him captiue, and shall see this lande no more.

but in that place whither I have carried him captive, there shall he die, and shall see this land no more.

13 Wo vnto him that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse, and his chambers without equitie: he vseth his neighbour without wages, and giueth him not for his worke.

He that builds his house not with justice, and his upper chambers not with judgment, who works by means of his neighbor for nothing, and will by no means give him his reward.

14 He saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers: so he will make him selfe large windowes, and feeling with cedar, and paint them with vermilion.

You have built for yourself a well-proportioned house, airy chambers, fitted with windows, and wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15 Shalt thou reigne, because thou closest thy selfe in cedar? did not thy father eate and drinke and prosper, when he executed iudgement and iustice?

Shall you reign, because you are provoked with your father Achaz? they shall not eat, and they shall not drink: it is better for you to execute judgment and justice.

16 When he iudged the cause of the afflicted and the poore, he prospered: was not this because he knewe me, saith the Lord?

They understood not, they judged not the cause of the afflicted, nor the cause of the poor: is not this your not knowing me? says the Lord.

17 But thine eyes and thine heart are but only for thy couetousnesse, and for to sheade innocent blood, and for oppression, and for destruction, euen to doe this.

Behold, your eyes are not good, nor your heart, but [they go] after your covetousness, and after the innocent blood to shed it, and after acts of injustice and slaughter, to commit them.

18 Therefore thus saith the Lord against Iehoiakim, the sonne of Iosiah king of Iudah, They shall not lament him, saying, Ah, my brother, or ah, sister: neither shall they mourne for him, saying, Ah, lord, or ah, his glorie.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Joakim son of Josias, king of Juda, even concerning this man; they shall not bewail him, [saying], Ah brother! neither shall they at all weep for him, [saying], Alas Lord.

19 He shalbe buryed, as an asse is buryed, euen drawen and cast foorth without the gates of Ierusalem.

He shall be buried with the burial of an ass; he shall be dragged roughly along and cast outside the gate of Jerusalem.

20 Goe vp to Lebanon, and cry: showte in Bashan and crye by the passages: for all thy louers are destroyed.

Go up to Libanus, and cry; and utter your voice to Basan, and cry aloud to the extremity of the sea: for all your lovers are destroyed.

21 I spake vnto thee when thou wast in prosperitie: but thou saidest, I will not heare: this hath bene thy maner from thy youth, that thou wouldest not obey my voyce.

I spoke to you on [occasion of] your trespass, but you said, I will not listen. This [has been] your way from your youth, you have not listened to my voice.

22 The wind shall feede all thy pastors, and thy louers shall goe into captiuitie: and then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded of al thy wickednesse.

The wind shall tend all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; for then shall you be ashamed and disgraced because of all your lovers.

23 Thou that dwellest in Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the cedars, howe beautiful shalt thou be when sorowes come vpon thee, as the sorowe of a woman in trauaile?

O you that dwell in Libanus, making your nest in the cedars, you shall groan heavily, when pangs as of a travailing woman are come upon you.

24 As I liue, saith the Lord, though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah, were the signet of my right hand, yet would I plucke thee thence.

[As] I live, says the Lord, though Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda were indeed the seal upon my right hand, thence would I pluck you;

25 And I will giue thee into the hande of them that seeke thy life, and into the hande of them, whose face thou fearest, euen into the hand of Nebuchad-nezzar king of Babel, and into the hande of the Caldeans.

and I will deliver you into the hands of them that seek your life, before whom you are afraid, into the hands of the Chaldeans.

26 And I will cause them to cary thee away, and thy mother that bare thee, into another countrey, where ye were not borne, and there shall ye die.

And I will cast forth you, and your mother that bore you, into a land where you were not born; and there you shall die.

27 But to the lande, whereunto they desire to returne, they shall not returne thither.

But they shall by no means return to the land which they long for in their souls.

28 Is not this man Coniah as a despised and broken idole? or as a vessell, wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they caryed away, hee and his seede, and cast out into a lande that they knowe not?

Jechonias is dishonored as a good-for-nothing vessel; for he is thrown out and cast forth into a land which he knew not.

29 O earth, earth, earth, heare the worde of the Lord.

Land, land, hear the word of the Lord.

30 Thus saith the Lord, Write this man destitute of children, a man that shall not prosper in his dayes: for there shall be no man of his seede that shall prosper and sit vpon the throne of Dauid, or beare rule any more in Iudah.

Write you this man an outcast: for there shall none of his seed at all grow up to sit on the throne of David, [or as] a prince yet in Juda.