The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 22 -

Thus says the Lord: “Descend to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word.(a)

And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David: you and your servants, and your people, who enter through these gates.

Thus says the Lord: Exercise judgment and justice, and free anyone who is oppressed by violence from the hand of a false accuser. And do not be willing to sadden the new arrival, or the orphan, or the widow, nor should you burden them unfairly. And you shall not shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you will indeed accomplish this word, then there will enter through the gates of this house kings from the stock of David, sitting on his throne, and riding on chariots and on horses: they, and their servants, and their people.

But if you will not listen to these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house will be in desolation.

A Warning about the Palace

For thus says the Lord about the house of the king of Judah: You are to me like Gilead, the head of Lebanon. Certainly, I will make you desolate, with uninhabitable cities.(b)

And I will sanctify over you the destroying man and his weapons. And they will cut down your select cedars and throw them violently into the fire.(c)

And many nations will pass through this city. And each one will say to his neighbor: ‘Why has the Lord acted in this way toward this great city?’

And they will answer: ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and they adored strange gods and served them.’

A Warning about Shallum

You should not choose to weep for the dead, nor should you mourn over them with tears. Lament for him who is departing, for he will return no more, nor will he see his native land again.(d)

(e)

For thus says the Lord to Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father, who has departed from this place: He will not return here again.

Instead, he will die in the place to which I have transferred him, and he will not see this land anymore.

A Warning about Jehoiakim

Woe to one who builds his house with injustice and his upper rooms without judgment, who oppresses his friend without cause and does not pay him his wages.

And he says: ‘I will build a broad house for myself, with spacious upper rooms.’ He makes windows for himself, and he builds the roof out of cedar, and he paints it with red ocher.

Will you reign because you compare yourself to the cedar? Did your father not eat and drink, and act with judgment and justice, so that it would be well with him?

He judged the case of the poor and the indigent for their good. Was this not because he knew me, says the Lord?

Yet truly, your eyes and your heart are toward avarice and the shedding of innocent blood, and toward false accusations and the pursuit of evil deeds.

Because of this, thus says the Lord toward Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him by saying, ‘Alas,’ to a brother, or, ‘Alas,’ to a sister. They will not make a noise for him and say, ‘Alas,’ to a master, or, ‘Alas,’ to a nobleman.

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, having rotted and been thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem.

Ascend to Lebanon and cry out! And utter your voice in Bashan, and cry out to those passing by. For all your lovers have been crushed.

I spoke to you in your abundance, and you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, for you have not listened to my voice.

The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. And then you will be confounded, and you will be ashamed of all your wickedness.

You who sit in Lebanon, and who nest in the cedars, in what way did you mourn when suffering came to you, like the suffering of a woman giving birth?

A Warning to Coniah

As I live, says the Lord, if Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a ring on my right hand, I would remove him from there.

And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you dread, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I will send you, and your mother who conceived you, into a foreign land, in which you were not born, and there you shall die.

And to the land about which they lift up their mind, thinking to return there, they shall not return.

Is this man, Jeconiah, a broken earthenware vessel? Is he a vessel which is entirely unpleasing? Why have they been cast out, he and his offspring, cast out even into a land that they have not known?

O earth, O earth, O earth! Listen to the word of the Lord!

Thus says the Lord: Write: this man is barren; he is a man who will not prosper in his days. For there will not be a man from among his offspring who will sit upon the throne of David, or have authority in Judah, anymore.”(f)

Footnotes

(a)22:1 Go down, etc:The contents of this chapter are of a more ancient date than those of the foregoing chapter: for the order of time is not always observed in the writings of the prophets.(Challoner)

(b)22:6 Galaad the head of Libanus:By Galaad, a rich and fruitful country, is here signified the royal palace of the kings of the house of David: by Libanus, a high mountain abounding in cedar trees, the populous city of Jerusalem.(Challoner)

(d)22:10 Weep not for him that is dead, etc:He means the good king Josias, who by death was taken away, so as not to see the miseries of his country.(Challoner)

(e)22:10 Him that goes away:Viz., sellum, alias Joachaz, who was carried captive into Egypt.(Challoner)

(f)22:30 Write this man barren:That is, childless: not that he had no children, but that his children should never sit on the throne of Juda.(Challoner)

The LORD said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there:

‘Hear the LORD’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne—you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

The LORD 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—they, their servants, and their people.

But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says the LORD, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

A Warning about the Palace

For the LORD 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 the LORD done this to this great city?’

Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God, worshiped other gods, and served them.’”

A Warning about Shallum

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.

For the LORD 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.

But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”

A Warning about Jehoiakim

“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;

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.

“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.

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Wasn’t this to know me?” says the LORD.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

Therefore the LORD 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!’

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed.

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.

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.

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!

A Warning to Coniah

“As I live,” says the LORD, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there.

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.

I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.

But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.”

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?

O earth, earth, earth, hear the LORD’s word!

The LORD 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.”