Jeremiah 22

Modern

Literal

A Warning to Judah’s Kings

¹This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there,

¹Thus says YHWH: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word.

²saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you and your officials and your people who enter these gates.

²And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of YHWH, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter at these gates.

³This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

³Thus says YHWH: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one plundered, from the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong, and do no violence to the sojourner and the fatherless and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you will indeed carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses—they and their officials and their people.

⁴For if you will indeed carry out this word, then shall enter in the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses—he and his servants and his people.

⁵But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself, declares the LORD, that this house will become a pile of rubble.’”

⁵And if you do not hear these words, I swear by Myself, a declaration of YHWH, that this house will become as a desolation!’”

A Warning about the Palace

⁶For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like Gilead to Me,

like the summit of Lebanon;

but I will surely turn you into a desert,

like cities that are uninhabited.

⁶For thus says YHWH to the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon; if not, I will make you a desert, with cities not inhabited.

⁷I will appoint destroyers against you,

each man with his weapons,

and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars

and throw them into the fire.

⁷And I will prepare against you destroyers, and each man with his weapons; and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

⁸And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’

⁸And many nations will pass by this city, and each man will say to his neighbor, ‘Upon what has YHWH done thus to this great city?

⁹Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”

⁹And they will say, ‘Upon that they have forsaken the covenant of YHWH their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’”

A Warning about Shallum

¹⁰Do not weep for him who is dead;

do not mourn his loss.

Weep bitterly for him who is exiled,

for he will never return

to see his native land.

¹⁰Do not weep for the one who is dead, and do not bemoan him. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he will not return again and see the land of his birth.

¹¹For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum^a son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return,

¹¹For thus says YHWH concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, the one reigning in place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place: “He shall not return here anymore.

¹²but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.”

¹²But in the place where they have led him captive, there he shall die, and this land he shall not see anymore.”

A Warning about Jehoiakim

¹³“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,

and his upper rooms without justice,

who makes his countrymen serve without pay,

and fails to pay their wages,

¹³“Woe to the one building his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who by his neighbor gains service for nothing and for his work gives nothing to him,

¹⁴who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace,

with spacious upper rooms.’

So he cuts windows in it,

panels it with cedar,

and paints it with vermilion.

¹⁴the one saying, ‘I will build for myself a large house, and with spacious upper rooms, and he cuts out windows for it, and paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.’

¹⁵Does it make you a king to excel in cedar?^a

Did not your father have food and drink?

He administered justice and righteousness,

and so it went well with him.

¹⁵Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did your father not eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

¹⁶He took up the cause of the poor and needy,

and so it went well with him.

Is this not what it means to know Me?”

declares the LORD.

¹⁶He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is this not to know Me?” A declaration of YHWH.

¹⁷“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing

except your own dishonest gain,

on shedding innocent blood,

on practicing extortion and oppression.”

¹⁷“Yet your eyes and your heart are on nothing for but upon your dishonest gain, and upon to shed innocent blood, and upon oppression, and upon to do violence!”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

“They will not mourn for him:

‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’

They will not mourn for him:

‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

¹⁸Therefore thus says YHWH concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They shall not lament for him, ‘Alas my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They shall not lament for him, ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his majesty!’

¹⁹He will be buried like a donkey,

dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

¹⁹With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem!

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out;

raise your voice in Bashan;

cry out from Abarim,

for all your lovers have been crushed.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry out from Abarim—for all your lovers are destroyed!

²¹I warned you when you were secure.

You said, ‘I will not listen.’

This has been your way from youth,

that you have not obeyed My voice.

²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity, you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This is your way from your youth, that you would not listen to My voice.

²²The wind will drive away all your shepherds,

and your lovers will go into captivity.

Then you will be ashamed and humiliated

because of all your wickedness.

²²The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity; surely then you will feel shame and be humiliated from all your evil.

²³O inhabitant of Lebanon,^a

nestled in the cedars,

how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you,

agony like a woman in labor.”

²³O dweller of Lebanon, nesting in the cedars—how you will groan when pains come upon you, writhing like a woman in labor!”

A Warning to Coniah

²⁴“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah^a son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

²⁴“As I live,” a declaration of YHWH, “Even If Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet from there I would tear you off,

²⁵In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans.^a

²⁵and I would give you into the hand of those seeking your soul, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans!

²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.

²⁶And I will cast you out—and your mother who gave birth to you—upon another land, where you were not born there; and there you shall die.

²⁷You will never return to the land for which you long.”

²⁷And upon the land to which they are lifting up their souls to return there, to there they shall not return.

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot,

a jar that no one wants?

Why are he and his descendants hurled out

and cast into a land they do not know?

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised and broken vessel, or a vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and cast into a land that they do not know?

²⁹O land, land, land,

hear the word of the LORD!

²⁹O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of YHWH!

³⁰This is what the LORD says:

“Enroll this man as childless,

a man who will not prosper in his lifetime.

None of his descendants will prosper

to sit on the throne of David

or to rule again in Judah.”

³⁰Thus says YHWH: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; indeed, none of his seed shall prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule anymore in Judah.”