Jeremiah 22

¹This is what the Lord has said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there give him this word,

²And say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, seated on the seat of David, you and your servants and your people who come in by these doors.

³This is what the Lord has said: Do what is right, judging uprightly, and make free from the hands of the cruel one him whose goods have been violently taken away: do no wrong and be not violent to the man from a strange country and the child without a father and the widow, and let not those who have done no wrong be put to death in this place.

⁴For if you truly do this, then there will come in through the doors of this house kings seated on the seat of David, going in carriages and on horseback, he and his servants and his people

⁵But if you do not give ear to these words, I give you my oath by myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a waste.

⁶For this is what the Lord has said about the family of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, and the top of Lebanon: but, truly, I will make you waste, with towns unpeopled.

⁷And I will make ready those who will send destruction on you, everyone armed for war: by them your best cedar-trees will be cut down and put in the fire.

⁸And nations from all sides will go past this town, and every man will say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done such things to this great town?

⁹And they will say, Because they gave up the agreement of the Lord their God, and became worshippers and servants of other gods.

¹⁰Let there be no weeping for the dead, and make no songs of grief for him: but make bitter weeping for him who has gone away, for he will never come back or see again the country of his birth.

¹¹For this is what the Lord has said about Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: He will never come back there again:

¹²But death will come to him in the place where they have taken him away prisoner, and he will never see this land again.

¹³A curse is on him who is building his house by wrongdoing, and his rooms by doing what is not right; who makes use of his neighbour without payment, and gives him nothing for his work;

¹⁴Who says, I will make a wide house for myself, and rooms of great size, and has windows cut out, and has it roofed with cedar and painted with bright red.

¹⁵Are you to be a king because you make more use of cedar than your father? did not your father take food and drink and do right, judging in righteousness, and then it was well for him?

¹⁶He was judge in the cause of the poor and those in need; then it was well. Was not this to have knowledge of me? says the Lord.

¹⁷But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.

¹⁸So this is what the Lord has said about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they will make no weeping for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

¹⁹They will do to him what they do to the dead body of an ass; his body will be pulled out and placed on the earth outside the doors of Jerusalem.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and give a cry; let your voice be loud in Bashan, crying out from Abarim; for all your lovers have come to destruction

²¹My word came to you in the time of your well-being; but you said, I will not give ear. This has been your way from your earliest years, you did not give attention to my voice.

²²All the keepers of your sheep will be food for the wind, and your lovers will be taken away prisoners: truly, then you will be shamed and unhonoured because of all your evil-doing.

²³O you who are living in Lebanon, making your living-place in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied will you be when pains come on you, as on a woman in childbirth!

²⁴By my life, says the Lord, even if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, was the ring on my right hand, even from there I would have you pulled off;

²⁵And I will give you into the hands of those desiring your death, and into the hands of those whom you are fearing, even into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldaeans.

²⁶I will send you out, and your mother who gave you birth, into another country not the land of your birth; and there death will come to you.

²⁷But to the land on which their soul's desire is fixed, they will never come back.

²⁸Is this man Coniah a broken vessel of no value? is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? why are they violently sent out, he and his seed, into a land which is strange to them?

²⁹O earth, earth, earth, give ear to the word of the Lord!

³⁰The Lord has said, Let this man be recorded as having no children, a man who will not do well in all his life: for no man of his seed will do well, seated on the seat of the kingdom of David and ruling again in Judah.

Jeremiah 22

¹Thus said the Lord: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

²Say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

³Thus says the Lord: "Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

⁵But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation."

⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.

⁷I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

⁸Many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?'

⁹Then they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.'

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country."

¹¹For thus says the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: "He shall not return there any more.

¹²But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more."

¹³Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire;

¹⁴who says, "I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms," and cuts him out windows; and it is ceiling with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

¹⁶He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me?' says the Lord.

¹⁷''But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "they shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!' They shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah lord!' or, 'Ah his glory!'

¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed.

²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, 'I will not hear.' This has been your way from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.

²²The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

²³Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

²⁴As I live," says the Lord, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you there;

²⁵and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.

²⁷But to the land whereunto their soul longs to return, there shall they not return."

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they do not know?

²⁹O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.

³⁰Thus says the Lord, "Write this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.