Jeremiah 22
1 Thus said YHWH: “Go down [to] the house of the king of Judah, and you have spoken this word there, and have said,
Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
2 Hear a word of YHWH, O king of Judah, who are sitting on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people, who are coming in at these gates,”
And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates.
3 Thus said YHWH: “Do judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, you do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood you do not shed in this place.
Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgement and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you certainly do this thing, Then kings sitting for David on his throne Have come in by the gates of this house, Riding on chariot, and on horses, He, and his servants, and his people.
For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people.
5 And if you do not hear these words, I have sworn by Myself,” A declaration of YHWH, “That this house is for a desolation.”
But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus said YHWH concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You [are] Gilead to Me—head of Lebanon, If not—I make you a wilderness, Cities [that] are not inhabited.
For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.
7 And I have separated destroyers for you, Each with his weapons, And they have cut down the choice of your cedars, And have cast them on the fire.”
And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
8 And many nations have passed by this city, And they have each said to his neighbor, “Why has YHWH done thus to this great city?”
And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbor: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?
9 And they have said, “Because that they have forsaken The covenant of their God YHWH, And bow themselves to other gods, and serve them.”
And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.
10 You do not weep for the dead, nor bemoan for him, Weep severely for the traveler, For he does not return again, Nor has he seen the land of his birth.
Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus said YHWH concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who is reigning instead of his father Josiah, who has gone forth from this place: “He does not return here again;
For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more:
12 For he dies in the place to where they have removed him, And he does not see this land again.
But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more.
13 Woe to him who is building his house by unrighteousness, And his upper chambers by injustice, He lays service on his neighbor for nothing, And he does not give his wage to him.
Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgement: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.
14 Who is saying, I build a large house for myself, And airy upper chambers, And he has cut out its windows for himself, Covered with cedar, and painted with vermillion.
Who saith: I will build me a wide house and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.
15 Do you reign, because you are fretting yourself in cedar? Your father—did he not eat and drink? Indeed, he did judgment and righteousness, Then [it is] well with him.
Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
16 He decided the cause of the poor and needy, Then [it is] well—is it not to know Me?” A declaration of YHWH.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
17 “But your eyes and your heart are not, Except on your dishonest gain, And on shedding of innocent blood, And on oppression, and on doing of violence.”
But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.
18 Therefore, thus said YHWH concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They do not lament for him, Oh, my brother! And, Oh, my sister! They do not lament for him, Oh, lord! And, Oh, his splendor!
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
19 He is buried [with] the burial of a donkey, Dragged and cast out there to the gates of Jerusalem.
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry, And give forth your voice in Bashan, And cry from Abarim, For all loving you have been destroyed.
Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I have spoken to you in your ease, You have said, I do not listen, This [is] your way from your youth, For you have not listened to My voice.
I spoke to thee in thy properity: and thou saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.
22 Wind consumes all your friends, And your lovers go into captivity, Surely then you are ashamed, And have blushed for all your wickedness.
The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
23 O dweller in Lebanon, making a nest among cedars, How gracious have you been when pangs come to you, Pain—as of a travailing woman.”
Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?
24 “[As] I live,” A declaration of YHWH, “Though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah was a seal on My right hand, surely there I draw you away,
As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
25 And I have given you into the hand of those seeking your life, And into hands of which you are afraid, Into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of the Chaldeans.
And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I have cast you, And your mother who bore you, to another country, Where you were not born, and you die there.
And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
27 And to the land to where they are lifting up their soul to return, They do not return there.”
And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
28 A grief—a despised broken thing—is this man Coniah? A vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why have they been cast up and down, He and his seed, Indeed, were they cast on to a land that they did not know?
Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29 Earth, earth, earth, hear a word of YHWH!
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30 Thus said YHWH: “Write this man down [as] childless, A man—he does not prosper in his days, For none of his seed prospers, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling in Judah again!”
Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
