22
1 The
LORD said, “Go
down to the
house of the
king of Judah,
and speak this
word there:
2 ‘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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 But
if you will
not hear these
words, I swear
by myself,” says
the LORD, “that
this house will
become a
desolation.” ’ ”
6 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.
7 I
will prepare
destroyers against
you,
everyone with his
weapons,
and they will
cut down your
choice cedars,
and cast them
into the fire.
8 “Many
nations will pass
by this city,
and they will
each ask his
neighbor, ‘Why has
the LORD done
this to this
great city?’
9 Then
they will answer, ‘Because
they abandoned the
covenant of the
LORD 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
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.
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 then it
was well.
Wasn’t this to
know me?”
says the LORD.
17 But
your eyes and
your heart are
only for your
covetousness,
for shedding
innocent blood,
for oppression,
and for doing
violence.”
18 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!’
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 out.
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
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.
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 the LORD’s
word!
30 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.”