Jeremiah 22
22
A Message for Judah’s Kings
1This is what the Lord said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him, 2‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too. 3This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent! 4If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects. 5But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”
A Message about the Palace
6Now this is what the Lord says concerning Judah’s royal palace:
“I love you as much as fruitful Gilead
and the green forests of Lebanon.
But I will turn you into a desert,
with no one living within your walls.
7I will call for wreckers,
who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.
They will tear out all your fine cedar beams
and throw them on the fire.
8“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the Lord destroy such a great city?’ 9And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.’”
A Message about Jehoahaz
10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss.
Instead, weep for the captive king being led away!
For he will never return to see his native land again.
11For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz,#22:11 Hebrew Shallum, another name for Jehoahaz. who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return. 12He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”
A Message about Jehoiakim
13And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim,#22:13a The brother and successor of the exiled Jehoahaz. See 22:18.
who builds his palace with forced labor.#22:13b Hebrew by unrighteousness.
He builds injustice into its walls,
for he makes his neighbors work for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.
14He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace
with huge rooms and many windows.
I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar
and paint it a lovely red.’
15But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king!
Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink.
But he was just and right in all his dealings.
That is why God blessed him.
16He gave justice and help to the poor and needy,
and everything went well for him.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?”
says the Lord.
17“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty!
You murder the innocent,
oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”
18Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah:
“The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another,
‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
His subjects will not mourn for him, crying,
‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’
19He will be buried like a dead donkey—
dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!
20Weep for your allies in Lebanon.
Shout for them in Bashan.
Search for them in the regions east of the river.#22:20 Or in Abarim.
See, they are all destroyed.
Not one is left to help you.
21I warned you when you were prosperous,
but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’
You have been that way since childhood—
you simply will not obey me!
22And now the wind will blow away your allies.
All your friends will be taken away as captives.
Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.
23It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace
paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon,
but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—
anguish like that of a woman in labor.
A Message for Jehoiachin
24“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin#22:24 Hebrew Coniah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin; also in 22:28. son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar#22:25a Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian#22:25b Or Chaldean. army. 26I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land. 27You will never again return to the land you yearn for.
28“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar?
Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?
29O earth, earth, earth!
Listen to this message from the Lord!
30This is what the Lord says:
‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless.
He is a failure,
for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David
to rule over Judah.’
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Jeremiah 22: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 22
22
1Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
2And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants and thy people, who enter in by these gates.
3Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgement and justice: and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.
4For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings of the race of David, sitting upon his throne and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people.
5But if you will not hearken to these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
6For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad, the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness and cities not habitable.
7And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
8And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?
9And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have adored strange gods and served them.
10Weep not for him that is dead nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country.
11For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias, the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more.
12But in the place to which I have removed him, there shall he die: and he shall not see this land any more.
13Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgement: that will oppress his friend without cause and will not pay him his wages.
14Who saith: I will build me a wide house and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows and maketh roofs of cedar and painteth them with vermilion.
15Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
16He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good. Was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
17But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness and upon shedding innocent blood and upon oppression and running after evil works.
18Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
20Go up to Libanus and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21I spoke to thee in thy properity: and thou saidst: I will not hear. This hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.
22The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be confounded and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
23Thou that sittest in Libanus and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?
24As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim, the king of Juda, were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
25And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born: and there you shall die.
27And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
28Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? Is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David and have power any more in Juda.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.