Jeremiah
22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and
speak there this word,
22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon
the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter
in by these gates:
22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye 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, nor the widow, neither shed
innocent blood in this place.
22:4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates
of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots
and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD,
that this house shall become a desolation.
22:6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead
unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a
wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
22:7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons:
and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
22:8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man
to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great
city?
22:9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
22:10 Weep ye 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.
22:11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of
Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out
of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
22:12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and
shall see this land no more.
22:13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his
chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and
giveth him not for his work;
22:14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth
him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with
vermilion.
22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy
father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well
with him?
22:16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him:
was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for
to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
22:18 Therefore thus saith 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
glory!
22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth
beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
22:20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from
the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
22:21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear.
This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my
voice.
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into
captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy
wickedness.
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how
gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman
in travail!
22:24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of
Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
22:25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into
the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26 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.
22:27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not
return.
22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no
pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast
into a land which they know not?
22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye 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.
