1The LORD said to Jeremiah, ‘Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Announce my message there. Tell him,2“King of Judah, listen to the LORD’s message. You are sitting on David’s throne. You and your officials and your people come through these gates.3The LORD says, ‘Do what is fair and right. Save those who have been robbed. Set them free from the people who have treated them badly. Do not do anything wrong to outsiders or widows in this place. Do not harm children whose fathers have died. Do not kill those who are not guilty of doing anything wrong.4Be careful to obey these commands. Then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace. They will come riding in chariots and on horses. Their officials and their people will come along with them.5But suppose you do not obey these commands,’ announces the LORD. ‘Then I promise you that this palace will be destroyed. You can be as sure of this promise as you are sure that I live.’ ” ’6The LORD speaks about the palace of the king of Judah. He says, ‘You are like the land of Gilead to me. You are like the highest mountain in Lebanon. But I will make you like a desert. You will become like towns that no one lives in.7I will send destroyers against you. All of them will come with their weapons. They will cut up your fine cedar beams. They will throw them into the fire.8‘People from many nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?”9And the answer will be, “This happened because of what its people have done. They have turned away from the covenant the LORD their God made with them. They have worshipped other gods. And they have served them.” ’10Don’t weep over dead King Josiah. Don’t be sad because he’s gone. Instead, weep bitterly over King Jehoahaz. He was forced to leave his country. He will never return. He’ll never see his own land again.11Jehoahaz became king of Judah after his father Josiah. But he has gone away from this place. That’s because the LORD says about him, ‘He will never return.12He will die in Egypt. That is where he was taken as a prisoner. He will not see this land again.’13The LORD says, ‘How terrible it will be for King Jehoiakim! He builds his palace by mistreating his people. He builds its upstairs rooms with money gained by sinning. He makes his own people work for nothing. He does not pay them for what they do.14He says, “I will build myself a great palace. It will have large rooms upstairs.” So he makes big windows in it. He covers its walls with cedar boards. He decorates it with red paint.15‘Jehoiakim, does having more and more cedar boards make you a king? Your father Josiah had enough to eat and drink. He did what was right and fair. So everything went well with him.16He stood up for those who were poor or needy. So everything went well with him. That is what it means to know me,’ announces the LORD.17‘Jehoiakim, the only thing on your mind is to get rich by cheating others. You would even kill people who are not guilty of doing anything wrong. You would mistreat them. You would take everything they own.’18So the LORD speaks about King Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah. He says, ‘His people will not mourn for him. They will not say, “My poor brother! My poor sister!” They will not mourn for him. They will not say, “My poor master! How sad that his glory is gone!”19In fact, he will be buried like a donkey. His body will be dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’20The LORD says, ‘People of Jerusalem, go up to Lebanon. Cry out for help. Let your voice be heard in the land of Bashan. Cry out from the mountains of Abarim. All those who were going to help you are crushed.21When you felt secure, I warned you. But you said, “I won’t listen!” You have acted like that ever since you were young. You have not obeyed me.22The wind will drive away all your shepherds. All those who were going to help you will be carried off as prisoners. Then you will be dishonoured and put to shame. That will happen because you have been so sinful.23Some of you live in Jerusalem in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. You are comfortable in your cedar buildings. But you will groan when pain comes on you. It will be like the pain of a woman having a baby.24‘King Jehoiachin, you are the son of Jehoiakim,’ announces the LORD. ‘Suppose you were a ring on my right hand. And suppose the ring even had my royal mark on it. Then I would still pull you off my finger. And that is just as sure as I am alive.25I will hand you over to those who want to kill you. I will hand you over to people you are afraid of. I will give you to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. I will hand you over to his armies.26I will throw you out into another country. I will throw your mother out. Neither of you was born in that country. But both of you will die there.27You will never come back to the land you long to return to.’28This man Jehoiachin is like a broken pot. Everyone hates him. No one wants him. Why will he and his children be thrown out of this land? Why will they be sent to a land they don’t know about?29Land, land, land, listen to the LORD’s message!30The LORD says, ‘Let the record say that this man did not have any children. Let it report that he did not have any success in life. None of his children will have success either. None of them will sit on David’s throne. None of them will ever rule over Judah.
Jeremiah 22
English Standard Version
1Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,2and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. (Jer 21:12)3Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. (Le 19:33; Ps 82:3; Isa 1:17; Jer 7:5; Jer 21:12; Jer 22:17; Jer 26:15)4For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. (Jer 17:25)5But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. (Ge 22:16; Isa 64:10; Jer 7:34; Jer 25:11; Jer 25:18; Jer 44:6; Jer 44:22; Jer 49:13; Jer 51:14; Eze 5:14; Am 6:8; Heb 6:13)6For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.[1] (Jer 6:8; Jer 22:20; Jer 22:23)7I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire. (2Ki 19:23; Isa 37:24; Jer 6:4)8“And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” (Jer 5:19)9And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’” (De 29:25)10Weep not for him who is dead, nor grieve for him, but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land. (2Ch 35:24; Jer 22:11)
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, (2Ki 23:34; 2Ch 36:4; Eze 19:4)12but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.” (Jer 22:11)13“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages, (Le 19:13; Le 25:39; De 24:14; Isa 5:18; Mic 3:10; Hab 2:12; Jas 5:4)14who says, ‘I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,’ who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. (Eze 23:14)15Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. (2Ki 23:25; Ps 128:2; Ec 8:12; Isa 3:10)16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord. (Jud 2:10; Pr 31:9; Isa 1:17; Jer 22:15)17But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.” (Jer 22:3; Jer 26:15)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 majesty!’ (1Ki 13:30; Ps 78:64; Jer 16:4; Jer 34:5)19With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” (Isa 14:19; Jer 8:2; Jer 36:30)20“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed. (Nu 27:12; De 32:49; Jer 3:1)21I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice. (Ps 129:1; Jer 3:25)22The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; then you will be ashamed and confounded because of all your evil. (Jer 3:25; Jer 22:20; Jer 23:1; Eze 34:10)23O inhabitant of Lebanon, nested among the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain as of a woman in labor!” (Isa 13:8; Jer 6:24; Jer 22:6)24“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off (1Ki 21:8; So 8:6; Isa 49:18; Eze 5:11; Hag 2:23)25and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. (De 1:17; Jer 34:20; Jer 39:17)26I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. (2Ki 24:8; 2Ki 24:15; 2Ch 36:10)27But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”28Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know? (Ps 31:12; Jer 15:14; Jer 22:24; Jer 48:38; Ho 8:8)29O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! (Isa 1:2)30Thus says the Lord: “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.” (1Ch 3:17; Jer 36:30; Mt 1:12)