Jeremias 22

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

Thus says the Lord: “Descend to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word.

2 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:

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.

3 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.

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.

4 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.

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.

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

But if you will not listen to these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house will be in desolation.

6 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:

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.

7 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.

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.

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

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?’

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

And they will answer: ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and they adored strange gods and served them.’

10 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.

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.

11 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:

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.

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

Instead, he will die in the place to which I have transferred him, and he will not see this land anymore.

13 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.

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.

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

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.

15 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.

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?

16 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.

He judged the case of the poor and the indigent for their good. Was this not because he knew me, says the Lord?

17 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.

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.

18 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.

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.

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

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, having rotted and been thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem.

20 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.

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.

21 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.

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.

22 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.

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.

23 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.

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?

24 [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;

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.

25 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.

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.

26 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.

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.

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

And to the land about which they lift up their mind, thinking to return there, they shall not return.

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

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?

29 Land, land, hear the word of the Lord.

O earth, O earth, O earth! Listen to the word of the Lord!

30 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.

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.”