Jeremiah 22

¹Jeremiah 22:1. This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there,²Jeremiah 22:2. saying, ‘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.³Jeremiah 22:3. This 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.⁴Jeremiah 22:4. For 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.⁵Jeremiah 22:5. But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself, declares the LORD, that this house will become a pile of rubble.’”⁶Jeremiah 22:6. For 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.⁷Jeremiah 22:7. I 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.⁸Jeremiah 22:8. And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’⁹Jeremiah 22:9. Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’”

¹⁰Jeremiah 22:10. Do 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.¹¹Jeremiah 22:11. For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return,¹²Jeremiah 22:12. but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.”

¹³Jeremiah 22:13. “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,¹⁴Jeremiah 22:14. who 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.¹⁵Jeremiah 22:15. Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him.¹⁶Jeremiah 22:16. He 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.¹⁷Jeremiah 22:17. “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”¹⁸Jeremiah 22:18. Therefore 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!’¹⁹Jeremiah 22:19. He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.²⁰Jeremiah 22:20. Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.²¹Jeremiah 22:21. I 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.²²Jeremiah 22:22. The 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.²³Jeremiah 22:23. O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”

²⁴Jeremiah 22:24. “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.²⁵Jeremiah 22:25. In 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.²⁶Jeremiah 22:26. I 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.²⁷Jeremiah 22:27. You will never return to the land for which you long.”²⁸Jeremiah 22:28. Is 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?²⁹Jeremiah 22:29. O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!³⁰Jeremiah 22:30. This 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.”