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 says the Lord; Go you, and go down to the house of the king of Juda, and you shall speak there 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 perform these words, by myself have I sworn, says the Lord, that this house shall be [brought] to 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 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 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 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 have passed by this city, And they have each said to his neighbor, “Why has YHWH done thus to this great city?”
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 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 say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped 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 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 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 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 For he dies in the place to where they have removed him, And he does not see this land again.
but in that place whither I have carried him captive, there shall he die, and shall see this land no 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.
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 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.
You have built for yourself a well-proportioned house, airy chambers, fitted with windows, and wainscoted with cedar, and painted 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.
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 He decided the cause of the poor and needy, Then [it is] well—is it not to know Me?” A declaration of YHWH.
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 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.”
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 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 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 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; he shall be dragged roughly along and cast outside the gate 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 utter your voice to Basan, and cry aloud to the extremity of the sea: for all your 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 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 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 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 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.”
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 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, 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 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 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 have cast you, And your mother who bore you, to another country, Where you were not born, and you die there.
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 And to the land to where they are lifting up their soul to return, They do not return there.”
But they shall by no means return to the land which they long for in their souls.
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?
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 Earth, earth, earth, hear a word of YHWH!
Land, land, 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!”
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.
