Jeremiah 22
22
The Lord Will Punish the King of Judah
1-3The Lord sent me to the palace of the king of Judah to speak to the king, his officials, and everyone else who was there. The Lord told me to say:
I am the Lord, so pay attention! You have been allowing people to cheat, rob, and take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners who live here. Innocent people have become victims of injustice, and some of them have even been killed. But now I command you to do what is right and see that justice is done. Rescue everyone who has suffered from injustice.
4If you obey me, the kings from David's family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. 5#Mt 23.28; Lk 13.35. But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. 6Listen to what I think about it:
The palace of Judah's king
is as glorious as Gilead
or Lebanon's highest peaks.
But it will be as empty
as a ghost-town
when I'm through with it.
7I'll send troops to tear it apart,
and its beautiful cedar beams
will be used for firewood.
8People from different nations will pass by and ask, “Why did the Lord do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?” 9Others will answer, “It's because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the Lord their God had made with them.”
King Jehoahaz
The Lord said:
10King Josiah is dead,
so don't mourn for him.#22.10 King Josiah … him: The Hebrew text has “don't mourn for the dead one,” meaning King Josiah, who ruled 640–609 b.c.
Instead, mourn for his son
King Jehoahaz,
dragged off to another country,#22.10 his son King Jehoahaz … country: The Hebrew text has “the one who was dragged off to another country,” meaning King Jehoahaz, who ruled for three months in 609 b.c.
never to return.
11-12 #
2 K 23.31-34; 2 Ch 36.1-4. Jehoahaz#22.11,12 Jehoahaz: The Hebrew text has “Shallum,” another name for Jehoahaz. became king of Judah after his father King Josiah died. But Jehoahaz was taken as a prisoner to a foreign country. Now I, the Lord, promise that he will die there without ever seeing his own land again.
King Jehoiakim
The Lord told me to say:
* 13King Jehoiakim,#22.13 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. you are doomed!
You built a palace
with large rooms upstairs.
14You put in big windows
and used cedar paneling
and red paint.
But you were unfair
and forced the builders to work
without pay.
* 15More cedar in your palace
doesn't make you a better king
than your father Josiah.
He always did right—
he gave justice to the poor
and was honest.
16That's what it means
to truly know me.
So he lived a comfortable life
and always had enough
to eat and drink.
17But all you think about
is how to cheat
or abuse or murder
some innocent victim.
18 #
2 K 23.36—24.6; 2 Ch 36.5-7. Jehoiakim, no one will mourn
at your funeral.
They won't turn to each other
and ask,
“Why did our great king
have to die?”
19You will be given a burial
fit for a donkey;
your body will be dragged
outside the city gates
and tossed in the dirt.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
King Jehoiachin and the People of Jerusalem
The Lord told me to say:
20People of Jerusalem,
the nations#22.20 nations: Or “gods.” you trusted
have been crushed.
Go to Lebanon and weep;
cry in the land of Bashan
and in Moab.
21When times were good,
I warned you.
But you ignored me,
just as you have done
since Israel was young.
22Now you will be disgraced
because of your sins.
Your leaders will be swept away
by the wind,
and the nations you trusted
will be captured and dragged
to a foreign country.
23Those who live in the palace
paneled with cedar#22.23 who live in the palace paneled with cedar: The Hebrew text has “who live in Lebanon and who nest among the cedars,” which probably means Forest Hall in the royal palace at Jerusalem, which was paneled with cedar and had cedar columns and a cedar ceiling, all from Lebanon (see 1 Kings 7.2,3).
will groan with pain
like women giving birth.
24 #
2 K 24.8-15; 2 Ch 36.9,10. King Jehoiachin,#22.24 Jehoiachin: The Hebrew text has “Coniah,” another form of Jehoiachin's name; he ruled for three months in 598 b.c. son of Jehoiakim,#22.24 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. 25I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar#22.25 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. and his army, who want to kill you. 26You and your mother#22.26 mother: See the note at 13.18. were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, 27longing to return home.
28Jehoiachin, you are unwanted
like a broken clay pot.
So you and your children
will be thrown into a country
you know nothing about.
29Land of Judah, I am the Lord.
Now listen to what I say!
30Erase the names
of Jehoiachin's children
from the royal records.
He is a complete failure,
and so none of them
will ever be king.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Jeremiah 22: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 22
22
1Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, 2and say, #Jer. 17:20‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates! 3Thus says the Lord: #Is. 58:6; Jer. 21:12; (Mic. 6:8); Zech. 7:9; 8:16; Matt. 23:23“Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the #Jer. 7:6; Zech. 7:10fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you indeed do this thing, #Jer. 17:25then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. 5But if you will not hear these words, #Matt. 23:38; Heb. 6:13, 17I swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”
6For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah:
“You are #Gen. 37:25; Num. 32:1; Song 4:1Gilead to Me,
The head of Lebanon;
Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,
Cities which are not inhabited.
7I will prepare destroyers against you,
Everyone with his weapons;
They shall cut down #Is. 37:24your choice cedars
#Jer. 21:14And cast them into the fire.
8And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, #Deut. 29:24–26; 1 Kin. 9:8, 9; 2 Chr. 7:20–22; Jer. 16:10‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ 9Then they will answer, #2 Kin. 22:17; 2 Chr. 34:25; Jer. 11:3‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
10Weep not for #2 Kin. 22:20the dead, nor bemoan him;
Weep bitterly for him #Jer. 14:17; 22:11; Lam. 3:48who goes away,
For he shall return no more,
Nor see his native country.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11For thus says the Lord concerning #1 Chr. 3:15Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, #2 Kin. 23:34; 2 Chr. 36:4; Ezek. 19:4who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore, 12but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13“Woe#2 Kin. 23:35; Jer. 17:11; Ezek. 22:13 to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his chambers by injustice,
#Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14, 15; Mic. 3:10; Hab. 2:9; James 5:4Who uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.’
15“Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then #2 Kin. 23:25; Ps. 128:2; Is. 3:10; Jer. 7:23; 42:6it was well with him.
16He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.
17“Yet#Jer. 6:13; 8:10; Ezek. 19:6; (Luke 12:15–20) your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”
18Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
#Jer. 16:4, 6“They shall not lament for him,
Saying, #1 Kin. 13:30‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’
They shall not lament for him,
Saying, ‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his glory!’
19#1 Kin. 21:23, 24; 2 Chr. 36:6; Jer. 36:30; Dan. 1:2He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,
Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.
21I spoke to you in your prosperity,
But you said, ‘I will not hear.’
#Jer. 3:24, 25; 32:30This has been your manner from your youth,
That you did not obey My voice.
22The wind shall eat up all #Jer. 23:1your rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
23O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like #Jer. 6:24the pain of a woman in labor?
Message to Coniah
24“As I live,” says the Lord, #2 Kin. 24:6, 8; 1 Chr. 3:16; 2 Chr. 36:9; Jer. 37:1“though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, #Song 8:6; Is. 49:16; Hag. 2:23were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; 25#2 Kin. 24:15, 16; Jer. 34:20and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans. 26#2 Kin. 24:15; Jer. 10:18; 16:13So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. 27But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
28“Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol—
#Ps. 31:12; Jer. 48:38; Hos. 8:8A vessel in which is no pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
29#Deut. 32:1; Is. 1:2; 34:1; Mic. 1:2O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of the Lord!
30Thus says the Lord:
‘Write this man down as #1 Chr. 3:16, 17; Matt. 1:12childless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For #Ps. 94:20; Jer. 36:30none of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.