Jeremiah 22

1 This is what Yahweh says, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and proclaim this word there.

Thus saith the Lord; Go thou, and go down to the house of the king of Juda, and thou shalt speak there this word,

2 Say, 'King of Judah, listen to the word of Yahweh—you who sit on David's throne—you, and your servants, and your people who come through these gates.

and thou shalt say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest on the throne of David, thou, and thy house, and thy people, and they that go in at these gates:

3 Yahweh says this, “Perform justice and righteousness, and anyone who has been robbed—rescue him from the hand of the oppressor. Do not mistreat any foreigner in your land, or any orphan or widow. Do not commit violence or pour out innocent blood in this place.

thus saith the Lord; Execute ye 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 truly do these things, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter the gates of this house riding in a chariot and on horses, he, his servants, and his people!

For if ye 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 But if you do not listen to these words from me that I have announced—this is Yahweh's declaration—then this royal house will become a ruin.”'

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

6 For Yahweh says this concerning the house of the king of Judah, 'You are like Gilead, or like the summit of Lebanon to me. Yet I will turn you into a wilderness, into cities with no inhabitants.

For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of the king of Juda; Thou art Galaad to me, [and] the head of Libanus: [yet] surely I will make thee a desert, [even] cities that shall not be inhabited:

7 For I have designated destroyers to come against you! Men with their weapons will cut off the best of your cedars and let them fall into the fire.

and I will bring upon thee a destroying man, and his axe: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

8 Then many nations will pass by this city. Each person will say to the next, “Why has Yahweh acted in this way toward this great city?”

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

9 Then the other will answer, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and bowed down to other gods and worshiped them.”

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

10 Do not weep for the one who is dead or mourn for him; but weep bitterly for him who is about to go away, because he will never return and see his native land again.'

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 Yahweh says this about Jehoahaz son of Josiah king of Judah, who served as king instead of Josiah his father, 'He has gone from this place and will not come back.

For thus saith 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 thither any more:

12 He will die there in the place to where they have exiled him, and he will never again see this land.'

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 builds his house by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor work for him for nothing, and he does not give him his wages;

He that builds his house not with justice, and his upper chambers not with judgment, who works by means of his neighbour for nothing, and will by no means give him his reward.

14 he says, 'I will build for myself a large house with spacious upper rooms.' So he cuts out large windows for it, and he panels it with cedar, and he paints it red.

Thou hast built for thyself a well-proportioned house, airy chambers, fitted with windows, and wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15 Is this what makes you a good king, that you wanted to have boards of cedar? Did not your father also eat and drink, yet do justice and righteousness? Then things went well for him.

Shalt thou reign, because thou art provoked with thy father Achaz? they shall not eat, and they shall not drink: it is better for thee to execute judgment and justice.

16 He judged in favor of the poor and needy. It was good then. Is this not what it means to know me?—this is Yahweh's declaration.

They understood not, they judged not the cause of the afflicted, nor the cause of the poor: is not this thy not knowing me? saith the Lord.

17 But there is nothing in your eyes and heart except worry for your unjust profit and for pouring out innocent blood, for producing oppression and crushing of others.

Behold, thine eyes are not good, nor thine heart, but [they go] after thy covetousness, and after the innocent blood to shed it, and after acts of injustice and slaughter, to commit them.

18 Therefore this is what Yahweh says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not lament for him, saying, 'Woe, my brother!' or 'Woe, my sister!' They will not lament for him, saying, 'Woe, master!' or 'Woe, majesty!'

Therefore thus saith 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 will be buried with a donkey's burial, dragged away and thrown out beyond 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 Lebanon's mountains and shout. Lift your voice in Bashan. Shout from the Abarim mountains, for all of your friends will be destroyed.

Go up to Libanus, and cry; and utter thy voice to Basan, and cry aloud to the extremity of the sea: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

21 I spoke to you when you were safe, but you said, 'I will not listen.' This was your custom since your youth, for you have not listened to my voice.

I spoke to thee on [occasion of] thy trespass, but thou saidst, I will not hearken. This [has been] thy way from thy youth, thou hast not hearkened to my voice.

22 The wind will shepherd away all your shepherds, and your friends will go into captivity. Then you will certainly be ashamed and humiliated by all of your evil deeds.

The wind shall tend all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; for then shalt thou be ashamed and disgraced because of all thy lovers.

23 You who live in 'Lebanon,' who is nestled in cedar buildings, how you will be pitied when the labor pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!”

O thou that dwellest in Libanus, making thy nest in the cedars, thou shalt groan heavily, when pangs as of a travailing woman are come upon thee.

24 “As I live—this is Yahweh's declaration—even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on my right hand, I would tear you off.

[As] I live, saith the Lord, though Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda were indeed the seal upon my right hand, thence would I pluck thee;

25 For I have given you to the hand of the ones seeking your life and to the hand of those before whom you are afraid, even to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

and I will deliver thee into the hands of them that seek thy life, before whom thou art afraid, into the hands of the Chaldeans.

26 I will throw you and your mother who bore you into another land, a country where you were not born, and there you will die.

And I will cast forth thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a land where thou wast not born; and there ye shall die.

27 About this land to which they will want to return, they will not come back here.

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

28 Is this a despised and shattered vessel? Is this man Jehoiachin a pot that pleases no one? Why have they thrown him and his descendants out, and have poured them out into a land that they did not know?

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

29 Land, Land, Land! Hear the word of Yahweh!

Land, land, hear the word of the Lord.

30 Yahweh says this, 'Write about this man Jehoiachin: He will be childless. He will not prosper during his days, and no one among his descendants will achieve success or ever again sit on David's throne and rule over Judah.'”

Write ye 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.