Jeremiah 22

1 Thus saith יהוה: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah (Yehudah), and speak there this word,

2 And say, ‘Hear the word of יהוה, O king of Judah (Yehudah), that sittest upon the throne of Dawid, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates!

3 Thus saith יהוה: “Execute you 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.

4 For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of Dawid, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” saith יהוה, “that this house shall become a desolation.”’”

6 For thus saith יהוה unto the king’s house of Judah (Yehudah): “You are as Gilad unto Me, and the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

7 And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, ‘Wherefore hath יהוה done thus unto this great city?’

9 Then they shall answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of יהוה their God (Elohim), and worshipped other gods (elohim), and served them.’”

10 Weep you 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.

11 For thus saith יהוה touching Shallum the son of Josiah (Yoshiyahu) king of Judah (Yehudah), who reigned instead of Josiah (Yoshiyahu) his father, who went forth out of this place: “He shall not return thither any more,

12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

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;

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.’

15 Shalt you reign, because you closest yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him; was not this to know Me?” saith יהוה.

17 But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.”

18 Therefore thus saith יהוה concerning Yehoyaqim the son of Josiah (Yoshiyahu) king of Judah (Yehudah); They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ Or, ‘Ah sister!’ They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah master!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’

19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim).

20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages; for all your lovers are destroyed.

21 I spake unto you in your prosperity; but you saidst,’ I will not hear.’ This hath been your manner from your youth, that you obeyedst not My voice.

22 The wind shall eat up all your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest your nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

24 “As I live,” saith יהוה, “though Konyahu the son of Yehoyaqim king of Judah (Yehudah) were the signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck you thence;

25 And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Bavel), and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 And I will cast you out, and your mother that bare you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die.

27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28 Is this man Konyahu 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?

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

30 Thus saith יהוה: “Write you 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 Dawid, and ruling any more in Judah (Yehudah).’”