The Sacred Scripture

Red Bookmark
Orange Bookmark
Yellow Bookmark
Green Bookmark
Blue Bookmark
Purple Bookmark

Jeremiah 22

1 Thus says Jehovah: Go·​·down·​·to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2 and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who come·​·in by these gates;
3 thus says Jehovah: Do ye judgment and justice, and rescue from the hand of the oppressor what is taken·​·by·​·robbery; and exploit not the sojourner, the orphan and the widow; do· no ·violence, and shed not innocent blood in this place.
4 For if doing you do this thing, then shall there come·​·in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if you will not hear these words, I promise in Myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a waste.
6 For thus says Jehovah against the house of the king of Judah: Thou art as Gilead to Me, as the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will set thee for a wilderness, for cities not dwelt·​·in.
7 And I will sanctify destroyers against thee, a man and his weapons; and they shall cut·​·off thy choice cedars, and cause them to fall on the fire.
8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say, a man to his companion, Wherefore has Jehovah done as·​·thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.
10 Weep ye not for the dead, and be· not ·sorry for him; but weeping you shall weep for him who goes into captivity; for he shall return no more and see the land of his birth.
11 For thus says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead·​·of Josiah his father, who went·​·out from this place: He shall not return thither any·​·more;
12 but he shall die in the place whither they have led him into exile, and shall see this land no more1.
13 Woe to him who builds his house with no justice, and his upper·​·rooms with no judgment, with his companion serving for·​·nothing, and for his work he gives him not;
14 who says, I will build for myself a measurable house and spacious upper·​·rooms; and he cuts out windows for himself; and it is paneled with cedar, and anointed2 with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou competest with the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well for him?
16 He made·​·the·​·cause for the cause of the afflicted and needy; then it was good. Was this not knowing Me? says Jehovah.
17 For thine eyes and thy heart are nothing but for thy gain, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for clashing, to do it.
18 Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah3: They shall not wail for him, saying, Woe, my brother! and, Woe, sisters! They shall not wail for him, saying, Woe, lord! and, Woe, his majesty!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go·​·up·​·to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the crossings; for all thy lovers are broken.
21 I spoke to thee in thy tranquility; but thou didst say, I will not hear. This has been thy way from thy youth, that thou didst not obey My voice.
22 The wind shall shepherd all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; for then shalt thou be·​·ashamed and humiliated on account of all thine evil.
23 O she who dwells in Lebanon, making· thy ·nest in the cedars, how gracious· shalt thou ·be when pangs come to thee, the travailing as of a woman giving·​·birth!
24 As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah4 were the signet on My right hand, surely I would pull· thee ·out from there;
25 and I will give thee into the hand of those who seek thy soul, and into the hand of them of whose faces thou art afraid, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will throw thee out, and thy mother who gave·​·birth to thee, into another land, where you were not born; and there shall you die.
27 But on the land where they bear their soul to return, thither they shall not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered idol? Is he a vessel in which is no delight? Wherefore are they thrown, he and his seed, and are cast upon a land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.
30 Thus says Jehovah: Write ye that this man5 is childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any·​·more in Judah.

1See II Kings 23:31-34

2that is, painted (AC 655:3, 3391:3)

3See II Kings 23:34-24:6.

4See II Kings 24:6-17, 25:27-30.

5See II Kings 24:18-25:7.