Jeremiah 22

¹ Thus said Yahweh, "Go down [to] the house of the king of Judah, and you have spoken there this word, and have said, ² Hear a word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who are sitting on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people, who are coming in at these gates, ³ Thus said Yahweh: Do you judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, you do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood you do not shed in this place. ⁴ For, if you certainly do this thing, Then come in by the gates of this house Have kings sitting for David on his throne, Riding on chariot, and on horses, He, and his servants, and his people. ⁵ And if you do not hear these words, By myself I have sworn - an affirmation of Yahweh, That this house is for a desolation. ⁶ For thus said Yahweh, Concerning the house of the king of Judah: Gilead [are] you to Me - head of Lebanon, If not - I make you a wilderness, Cities not inhabited. ⁷ And I have separated for you destroyers, Each with his weapons, And they have cut down the choice of your cedars, And have cast them on the fire. ⁸ And many nations have passed by this city, And they have said, each to his neighbor, For what has Yahweh done thus to this great city? ⁹ And they have said, Because that they have forsaken The covenant of Yahweh their Elohim, And bow themselves to other elohims, and serve them. ¹⁰ You do not weep for the dead, nor bemoan for him, Weep you sore for the traveller, For he does not return again, Nor has he seen the land of his birth. ¹¹ For thus said Yahweh concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who is reigning instead of Josiah his father, who has gone forth from this place: He does not turn back hither again; ¹² For in the place whither they have removed him he dies, And this land he does not see again. ¹³ Woe to him who is building his house by unrighteousness, And his upper chambers by injustice, On his neighbor he lays service for nought, And his wage he does not give to him. ¹⁴ Who is saying, 'I build for myself a large house, And airy upper chambers', And he has cut out for himself its windows, Ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. ¹⁵ Do you reign, because you are fretting yourself in cedar? Your father - did he not eat and drink? Yea, he did judgment and righteousness, Then [it is] well with him. ¹⁶ He decided the cause of the poor and needy, Then [it is] well - is it not to know Me? An affirmation of Yahweh. ¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are not, Except on your dishonest gain, And on shedding of innocent blood, And on oppression, and on doing of violence. ¹⁸ Therefore, thus said Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: They do not lament for him, Ah, my brother, and Ah, sister, They do not lament for him, Ah, lord, and Ah, his honor. ¹⁹ The burial of an ass - he is buried, Dragged and cast out thence to the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰ Go up to Lebanon, and cry, And in Bashan give forth your voice, And cry from Abarim, For destroyed have been all loving you. ²¹ I have spoken unto you in your ease, You have said, 'I do not hearken', This [is] your way from your youth, For you have not hearkened to My voice. ²² All your friends consume does wind, And your lovers into captivity do go, Surely then you are ashamed, And have blushed for all your wickedness. ²³ O dweller in Lebanon, making a nest among cedars, How gracious have you been when pangs come to you, Pain - as of a travailing woman. ²⁴ I live - an affirmation of Yahweh, Though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah Were a seal on My right hand, Surely thence I draw you away, ²⁵ And I have given you into the hand of those seeking your life, And into hands of which you are afraid, Into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, And into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ And I have cast you, And your mother who bore you, unto another country, Where you were not born, and there do you die. ²⁷ And to the land whither they are lifting up their soul to return, Thither they do not return. ²⁸ A grief - a despised broken thing - is this man Coniah? A vessel in which there is no pleasure? Wherefore have they been cast up and down, He and his seed, Yea, they were cast on to a land that they knew not? ²⁹ Earth, earth, earth, hear a word of Yahweh, ³⁰ Thus said Yahweh: Write you this man childless, A man - he does not prosper in his days, For none of his seed does prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling again in Judah!"