< Jeremiah 22 >

1 This is another message that Yahweh gave [to me]: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and say this to him:
כה אמר יהוה רד בית מלך יהודה ודברת שם את הדבר הזה
2 ‘You are the king of Judah. You are the ruler [MTY], like King David was. You and your officials and your people must listen
ואמרת שמע דבר יהוה מלך יהודה הישב על כסא דוד אתה ועבדיך ועמך הבאים בשערים האלה
3 to what Yahweh says: “Act fairly and justly. Do what is right. Help those who have been robbed. Rescue people from those who oppress them. Stop doing evil things. Do not mistreat those who have come here from other countries, and do not mistreat orphans and widows. Stop murdering here [in Jerusalem] [MTY] those who (are innocent/have not done things that are wrong).
כה אמר יהוה עשו משפט וצדקה והצילו גזול מיד עשוק וגר יתום ואלמנה אל תנו אל תחמסו ודם נקי אל תשפכו במקום הזה
4 If you obey those commands carefully, there will [always] be some descendant of King David who will be ruling here [MTY] [in Jerusalem]. The king and his officials and other people will ride through the gates of the city in chariots and on horses.
כי אם עשו תעשו את הדבר הזה--ובאו בשערי הבית הזה מלכים ישבים לדוד על כסאו רכבים ברכב ובסוסים הוא ועבדו ועמו
5 But if you refuse to pay attention to those commands, I, Yahweh, solemnly declare, with myself [MTY] as a witness, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.”’”
ואם לא תשמעו את הדברים האלה--בי נשבעתי נאם יהוה כי לחרבה יהיה הבית הזה
6 And this is what Yahweh says about the king’s palace: “[I like] this palace, like I like the forests in the Gilead [region] and the mountains in Lebanon. But I will cause this palace to become a desert, a place that no one lives in.
כי כה אמר יהוה על בית מלך יהודה גלעד אתה לי ראש הלבנון אם לא אשיתך מדבר ערים לא נושבה (נושבו)
7 I will summon enemy troops who will destroy this palace; each of their soldiers will use his own tools [to wreck the building]. They will cut into pieces the beautiful big cedar [beams] and throw them into a fire.”
וקדשתי עליך משחתים איש וכליו וכרתו מבחר ארזיך והפילו על האש
8 People from many nations will walk past [the ruins of] this city and say to each other, “Why did Yahweh destroy this city that was [very] great?”
ועברו גוים רבים על העיר הזאת ואמרו איש אל רעהו על מה עשה יהוה ככה לעיר הגדולה הזאת
9 And [other] people will reply, “[He did it] because his people stopped obeying the agreement that they had made with Yahweh their God. Instead, they worshiped [DOU] other gods.”
ואמרו--על אשר עזבו את ברית יהוה אלהיהם וישתחוו לאלהים אחרים ויעבדום
10 [Yahweh also says, ] “Do not mourn for King [Josiah]; do not cry because he has died. Instead, mourn for [King Jehoahaz, his son], [because] he will be captured and taken to another country, and he will never return to see his own country, [Judah], again.”
אל תבכו למת ואל תנדו לו בכו בכו להלך--כי לא ישוב עוד וראה את ארץ מולדתו
11 Jehoahaz became king after his father, King Josiah, [died], but Jehoahaz indeed was captured and taken [to Babylonia]. And this is what Yahweh says about him: “He also will never return [to Judah].
כי כה אמר יהוה אל שלם בן יאשיהו מלך יהודה המלך תחת יאשיהו אביו אשר יצא מן המקום הזה לא ישוב שם עוד
12 He will die in that far-away country and will never see his own country again.”
כי במקום אשר הגלו אתו--שם ימות ואת הארץ הזאת לא יראה עוד
13 [And Yahweh said to me], “Terrible things will happen to [King Jehoahaz’s brother, King Jehoiakim]. He unjustly [forced men to] build his palace. The rooms on the upper level were built [by men who were forced] unjustly [to do that work]; he forced his neighbors to work for nothing; he did not pay them anything.
הוי בנה ביתו בלא צדק ועליותיו בלא משפט ברעהו יעבד חנם ופעלו לא יתן לו
14 He said, ‘I will [force my workers to] build a huge beautiful palace with very large rooms and [many] windows. They will cover the walls with [fragrant] cedar panels/timber and paint them bright red.’”
האמר אבנה לי בית מדות ועליות מרוחים וקרע לו חלוני וספון בארז ומשוח בששר
15 But it is certainly not [RHQ] having a beautiful cedar palace that causes a king to be great! Jehoiakim’s father, Josiah, also had [RHQ] plenty of things to eat and drink. But Josiah always did things that are right and just, and that is why God blessed him.
התמלך כי אתה מתחרה בארז אביך הלוא אכל ושתה ועשה משפט וצדקה--אז טוב לו
16 Josiah acted justly/fairly and helped poor and needy people, so things went well for him. Yahweh says, “That is [RHQ] the way a person should behave who knows me.
דן דין עני ואביון אז טוב הלוא היא הדעת אתי נאם יהוה
17 But [Jehoiakim], you [MTY] are greedy and desire only to obtain things by acting dishonestly. You murder [MTY] innocent people, you oppress poor people, and you treat people cruelly and violently.”
כי אין עיניך ולבך כי אם על בצעך ועל דם הנקי לשפוך ועל העשק ועל המרוצה לעשות
18 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says about Jehoiakim, the son of King Josiah: “[When he dies], people will not mourn for him. They will not say to each other, ‘It is very sad; we are so sorry!’ The people whom he ruled will not mourn for him, saying, ‘We are sad that our king is dead; we are so sorry that the wonderful things [that happened while he was king are ended].’
לכן כה אמר יהוה אל יהויקים בן יאשיהו מלך יהודה לא יספדו לו הוי אחי והוי אחות לא יספדו לו הוי אדון והוי הדה
19 [When he dies, people will do to] his corpse what they do to a dead donkey; his [corpse] will be dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!
קבורת חמור יקבר סחוב והשלך מהלאה לשערי ירושלם
20 [You people of Judah], go to [the mountains in] Lebanon and weep, shout in the [mountains of the] Bashan [region], cry out in [the mountains of] Moab, because all your friends [in those areas] have been destroyed.
עלי הלבנון וצעקי ובבשן תני קולך וצעקי מעברים כי נשברו כל מאהביך
21 When you were prosperous, I warned you, but you replied, ‘We will not pay attention [to what you say].’ You have been acting like that since you were young; you have never obeyed me.
דברתי אליך בשלותיך אמרת לא אשמע זה דרכך מנעוריך כי לא שמעת בקולי
22 [So, now I will punish] all your leaders; [it will be as though] they have been blown away by the wind. They will be captured [by your enemies] and taken to another country. When that happens, you will [truly] be ashamed and disgraced because of all the wicked things [that you have done].
כל רעיך תרעה רוח ומאהביך בשבי ילכו כי אז תבשי ונכלמת מכל רעתך
23 [Now, your king] enjoys living in the cedar rooms in his palace, but [soon] he will be punished, and then he will groan like [SIM] a woman who is giving birth to a baby.”
ישבתי (ישבת) בלבנון מקננתי (מקננת) בארזים מה נחנת בבא לך חבלים חיל כילדה
24 Yahweh says this: “Jehoiachin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, as surely as I am alive, [I will punish you]. Even if you were the ring on my finger that shows that I am the king, I would pull you off.
חי אני נאם יהוה כי אם יהיה כניהו בן יהויקים מלך יהודה חותם על יד ימיני כי משם אתקנך
25 You are afraid of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his huge army, [because] they are wanting to kill you. I will enable them to capture you.
ונתתיך ביד מבקשי נפשך וביד אשר אתה יגור מפניהם--וביד נבוכדראצר מלך בבל וביד הכשדים
26 I will expel you and your mother [from this land], and you will be taken to another country. Neither of you was born there, but you will both die there.
והטלתי אתך ואת אמך אשר ילדתך על הארץ אחרת אשר לא ילדתם שם ושם תמותו
27 You will never return to this land that you will very much desire to return to.”
ועל הארץ אשר הם מנשאים את נפשם--לשוב שם שמה לא ישובו
28 [Someone said, ] “Jehoiachin will be [RHQ] like a broken pot that is despised and which no one wants. He and his children will be (exiled/forced to go) to a foreign land.
העצב נבזה נפוץ האיש הזה כניהו אם כלי אין חפץ בו מדוע הוטלו הוא וזרעו והשלכו על הארץ אשר לא ידעו
29 [I want] the people in this land to listen carefully to this message from Yahweh.”
ארץ ארץ ארץ--שמעי דבר יהוה
30 This is what Yahweh says: “[In the record about the kings of Judah, ] write down that [it will be as though] this man [Jehoiachin] had no children, and that he has not been successful during his life, because none of his children/descendants will [ever] become king to rule over [the people of] Judah.”
כה אמר יהוה כתבו את האיש הזה ערירי--גבר לא יצלח בימיו כי לא יצלח מזרעו איש ישב על כסא דוד ומשל עוד ביהודה

< Jeremiah 22 >