Jeremiah 22
1 The LORD said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there:
Thus saith Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2 ‘Hear the LORD’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne—you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.
and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in through these gates.
3 The LORD says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.
Thus saith Jehovah: Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their servants, and their people.
For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting in the place of David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, — he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says the LORD, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”
But if ye will not hear these words, I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that this house shall become a waste.
6 For the LORD says 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.
For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art a Gilead unto me, the summit of Lebanon: verily I will make thee a wilderness, cities not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down the choice of thy cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbour, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’
And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God, worshipped other gods, and served them.’”
And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country.
Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him; [but] weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For the LORD says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He won’t return there any more.
For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more;
12 But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”
for he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbour’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his upper chambers by injustice; that taketh his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not his earning;
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’ and cuts out windows for himself, with a cedar ceiling, and painted with red.
that saith, I will build me a wide house, and spacious upper chambers; and he cutteth out for himself windows; and it is wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 “Should you reign because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
Shalt thou reign, because thou viest with the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Wasn’t this to know me?” says the LORD.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah.
17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”
But thine eyes and thy heart are only on thine extortion, and on the blood of the innocent, to shed it, and on oppression and on violence, to do it.
18 Therefore the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: They shall not lament for him, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister! They shall not lament for him, Ah, lord! or Ah, his glory!
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged along and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and give forth thy voice in Bashan, and cry from [the heights of] Abarim: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you didn’t obey my voice.
I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity; [but] thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy way from thy youth, that thou hearkenedst not unto my voice.
22 The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.
The wind shall feed on all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely, then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23 Inhabitant 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!
Thou inhabitress of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how pitiful shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, pain as of a woman in travail!
24 “As I live,” says the LORD, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there.
[As] I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet upon my right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence;
25 I would 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 Kasdim.
and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them before whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.
And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27 But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.”
And into the land whereunto they lift up their souls to return, thither shall they not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which no one delights? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and cast into a land which they don’t know?
Is this man Coniah a despised broken vase? a vessel wherein is no delight? Wherefore are they thrown out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the LORD’s word!
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah!
30 The LORD says, “Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David’s throne and ruling in Judah.”
Thus saith Jehovah: Write this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
