JeremiahChapter 22

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¹This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Announce this message there. ²Say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David. Hear it, you and your officials and your people who come in through these gates. ³This is what the LORD says: Do what is fair and right. Rescue the one who has been robbed from the person who mistreats him. Do not do wrong or harm to the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. Do not kill innocent people in this place. ⁴If you really obey these commands, then kings who sit on David's throne will come in through the gates of this palace. They will ride on chariots and horses, with their officials and their people. ⁵But you may not obey these words. If so, I make a promise by my own name, says the LORD, that this palace will become a pile of ruins.'" ⁶For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah:
"You are like Gilead to me,
like the top of Lebanon.
But I will surely make you a desert,
like towns where no one lives. ⁷I will send destroyers against you,
each man with his weapons.
They will cut down your best cedars
and throw them into the fire. ⁸People from many nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?' ⁹And people will answer, 'Because they left the covenant of the LORD their God. They worshiped and served other gods.'" ¹⁰Do not cry for the one who is dead.
Do not mourn his loss.
Instead, cry hard for the one who was taken away.
He will never come back to see the land where he was born. ¹¹For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah. Shallum became king after his father Josiah, but he has gone away from this place. The LORD says, "He will never come back. ¹²He will die in the place where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again." ¹³"How terrible for the one who builds his palace by doing wrong.
He builds its upper rooms by being unfair.
He makes his own people work for nothing.
He does not pay them what they earned. ¹⁴He says, 'I will build myself a great palace
with big upper rooms.'
So he cuts windows in it.
He covers its walls with cedar
and paints it bright red. ¹⁵Does having more cedar than others make you a king?
Didn't your father have food and drink?
He did what was fair and right,
so things went well for him. ¹⁶He stood up for the poor and needy,
so things went well for him.
Isn't this what it means to know me?" says the LORD. ¹⁷"But your eyes and your heart are set on nothing
but getting money in dishonest ways.
You want to kill innocent people.
You want to cheat and crush others." ¹⁸So this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
"They will not mourn for him, saying,
'Oh, my brother! Oh, my sister!'
They will not mourn for him, saying,
'Oh, my master! Oh, his greatness!' ¹⁹He will be buried like a donkey.
He will be dragged away
and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out.
Let your voice be heard in Bashan.
Cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers have been crushed. ²¹I warned you when you felt safe.
But you said, 'I will not listen.'
You have been this way since you were young.
You have not obeyed my voice. ²²The wind will blow away all your shepherds.
Your lovers will be taken away as captives.
Then you will be ashamed and put to shame
because of all your evil. ²³You who live in Lebanon,
snug in your nest in the cedars,
how you will groan when pain comes on you!
It will hurt like a woman giving birth." ²⁴"As surely as I live," says the LORD, "I would pull you off, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah. I would do it even if you were a signet ring on my right hand. ²⁵In fact, I will hand you over to those you are afraid of, who want to kill you. I will give you to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will throw you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land. Neither of you was born there, but there you both will die. ²⁷You will never come back to the land you long for." ²⁸Is this man Coniah a hated, broken pot?
Is he a jar that no one wants?
Why are he and his children thrown out?
Why are they thrown into a land they do not know? ²⁹O land, land, land,
hear the word of the LORD! ³⁰This is what the LORD says:
"Write this man down as if he had no children.
He is a man who will not succeed in his lifetime.
None of his children will succeed
in sitting on the throne of David
or ruling in Judah again."