Jeremiah 22:1-23

English Standard Version

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ²and say, ^(A)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³Thus says the Lord: ^(B)Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^(C)do no wrong or violence ^(D)to the resident alien, ^(E)the fatherless, and the widow, nor ^(F)shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will indeed obey this word, ^(G)then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. ⁵But if you will not obey these words, I ^(H)swear by myself, declares the Lord, that ^(I)this house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,
    like the summit of ^(J)Lebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
    ^(K)an uninhabited city.^[a]
⁷^(L)I will prepare destroyers against you,
    each with his weapons,
^(M)and they shall cut down your choicest cedars
    and cast them into the fire.

⁸“‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, ^(N)“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” ⁹^(O)And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

¹⁰^(P)Weep not for him who is dead,
    nor grieve for him,
^(Q)but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
    for he shall return no more
    to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

¹¹For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and ^(R)who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, ¹²but ^(S)in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

¹³^(T)“Woe to him who builds his house by ^(U)unrighteousness,
    and his upper rooms by injustice,
^(V)who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
    and does not give him his wages,
¹⁴who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
    with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
    paneling it with cedar
    and ^(W)painting it with vermilion.
¹⁵Do you think you are a king
    because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
    and ^(X)do justice and righteousness?
    ^(Y)Then it was well with him.
¹⁶^(Z)He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    ^(AA)then it was well.
Is not this ^(AB)to know me?
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷But you have eyes and heart
    only for your dishonest gain,
^(AC)for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^(AD)“They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ^(AE)‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ^(AF)‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
¹⁹With the burial of a donkey ^(AG)he shall be buried,
    dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
    and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from ^(AH)Abarim,
    for all ^(AI)your lovers are destroyed.
²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity,
    but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
^(AJ)This has been your way from ^(AK)your youth,
    that you have not obeyed my voice.
²²^(AL)The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
    and ^(AM)your lovers shall go into captivity;
^(AN)then you will be ashamed and confounded
    because of all your evil.
²³O inhabitant of ^(AO)Lebanon,
    nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
    ^(AP)pain as of a woman in labor!”