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22 Yahweh said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word, there: ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, his servants, and his people. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says Yahweh, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

For Yahweh says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are Gilead to me,
    the head of Lebanon.
Yet surely I will make you a wilderness,
    cities which are not inhabited.
I will prepare destroyers against you,
    everyone with his weapons,
and they will cut down your choice cedars,
    and cast them into the fire.

“Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbor, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, worshiped other gods, and served them.’”

10 Don’t weep for the dead.
    Don’t bemoan him;
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
    for he will return no more,
    and not see his native country.

11 For Yahweh says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He won’t return there any more. 12 But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”

13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
    and his rooms by injustice;
who uses his neighbor’s service without wages,
    and doesn’t give him his hire;
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’
    and cuts out windows for himself;
with a cedar ceiling,
    and painted with red.

15 “Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar?
    Didn’t your father eat and drink,
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    so it was well, then.
Wasn’t this to know me?”
    says Yahweh.
17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness,
    for shedding innocent blood,
    for oppression, and for doing violence.”

18 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

“They won’t lament for him,
    saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’
They won’t lament for him,
    saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,
    drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry.
    Lift up your voice in Bashan,
and cry from Abarim;
    for all your lovers have been destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity;
    but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
    that you didn’t obey my voice.
22 The wind will feed all your shepherds,
    and your lovers will go into captivity.
Surely then you will be ashamed
    and confounded for all your wickedness.
23 Inhabitant of Lebanon,
    who makes your nest in the cedars,
how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you,
    the pain as of a woman in travail!

24 “As I live,” says Yahweh, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there. 25 I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die. 27 But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.”

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel?
    Is he a vessel in which no one delights?
Why are they cast out, he and his offspring,
    and cast into a land which they don’t know?
29 O earth, earth, earth,
    hear Yahweh’s word!
30 Yahweh says,
    “Record this man as childless,
    a man who will not prosper in his days;
for no more will a man of his offspring prosper,
    sitting on David’s throne,
    and ruling in Judah.”

Oracles against the kings

22 The Lord proclaims: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and declare this message: Listen to the Lord’s word, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your attendants, and all those who go through these gates. The Lord proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t spill the blood of the innocent in this place. If you obey this command, then through the gates of this palace will come kings who occupy the throne of David, riding on chariots and horses along with their entourage and subjects. But if you ignore these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this palace will become a ruin. The Lord proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah:

Though you are like Gilead to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,
    I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.
I will summon destroyers against you,
    who will use their weapons
        to cut down your finest cedars
        and hurl them into the fire.

People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: “Why has the Lord treated that great city like this?” And the answer will be, “Because they abandoned the covenant with the Lord their God and worshipped and served other gods.”

10 Don’t weep or lament for the dead king.[a]
    Weep instead for the one who has gone away,
        for he will never return to see his native soil.

11 This is what the Lord says about Shallum son of Judah’s King Josiah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king but who is now gone from this place: He will never return! 12 He will die where he’s been exiled and never see this land again.

13 How terrible for Jehoiakim, who builds his house with corruption
    and his upper chambers with injustice,
        working his countrymen for nothing,
        refusing to give them their wages.
14 He says, “I’ll build myself a grand palace,
    with huge upper chambers,
        ornate windows,
        cedar paneling,
        and rich red decor.”
15 Is this what makes you a king,
    having more cedar than anyone else?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
    and still do what was just and right?
Then it went well for him!
16     He defended the rights of the poor and needy;
        then it went well.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?
    declares the Lord.
17 But you set your eyes and heart
    on nothing but unjust gain;
    you spill the blood of the innocent;
        you practice cruelty;
        you oppress your subjects.

18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Judah’s King Josiah:

They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My brother, my sister!”
    They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My master, my majesty!”
19 They will give him a donkey’s burial,
    dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalem
        and dumping him there.

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
    lift up your voice in Bashan,
    cry out from Abarim,
        because all your lovers have been ravished.
21 I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure,
    but you said, “I won’t listen.”
You have been that way since your youth:
    not listening to a word I say.
22 Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind,
    your lovers taken off to exile.
Then you will be embarrassed and humiliated
    by all your wickedness.
23 You who live in Lebanon,
        nestled in cedar,
    who will pity you[b]
        when you are overcome in pain,
        like that of childbirth?

24 As surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah,[c] King Jehoiakim’s son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there. 25 I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.[d] 26 I will banish you and your mother who bore you to a land far from your native soil, and there the two of you will die. 27 You[e] will never return to the land you[f] long to go back to.

28 Is this man Coniah
    merely a defiled and broken pottery jar
        that no one wants?
Why then have he and his children been hurled out
    and cast into an unfamiliar land?
29 Land, land, land,
    hear the Lord’s word:
30 The Lord proclaims:
Mark this man as childless;
    he will not prosper during his lifetime.
        None of his children
        will sit on David’s throne
        and rule again in Judah.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 22:10 Heb lacks king.
  2. Jeremiah 22:23 Heb uncertain
  3. Jeremiah 22:24 Cf Jeconiah in Jer 24:1
  4. Jeremiah 22:25 Or the Babylonians
  5. Jeremiah 22:27 Or They
  6. Jeremiah 22:27 Or they