Jeremiah 21:4-22:30

MSTC^{(i) 4} 'Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel: behold, I will turn back the weapons, that ye have in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, which besiege you round about the walls, and I will bring them together into the midst of this city, ⁵ and I myself will fight against you, with an outstretched hand, and with a mighty arm, in great displeasure and terrible wrath: ⁶ and will smite them, that dwell in this city, yea both man and cattle shall die of the pestilence. ⁷ And after this, sayeth the LORD, I shall deliver Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his servants, his people - and such as are escaped in the city, from the pestilence, sword, and hunger - into the power of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: yea into the hands of their enemies; into the hands of those that follow upon their lives, which shall smite them with the sword. They shall not pity them, they shall not spare them, they shall have no mercy upon them.' ⁸ "And unto this people thou shalt say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD: behold, I lay before you the way of life and death. ⁹ Whoso abideth in this city shall perish: either with the sword, with hunger, or with pestilence. But whoso goeth out to hold on the Chaldeans part that besiege it, he shall save his life, and shall win his soul for a prey. ¹⁰ For I have set my face against this city, sayeth the LORD, to plague it, and to do it no good. It must be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and be burnt with fire.' ¹¹ And unto the house of the king of Judah, say thus, 'Hear ye the word of the LORD, ¹² O house of David, for thus sayeth the LORD: Minister righteousness, and that soon. Deliver the oppressed from violent power: before my terrible wrath break out like a fire, and burn so that no man may quench it, because of the wickedness of your imaginations. ¹³ Behold, sayeth the LORD, I will come upon you that dwell in the valleys, rocks and fields, and say: Tush, who will make us afraid? Or, who will come into our houses? ¹⁴ For I will visit you, sayeth the LORD, because of the wickedness of your inventions, and will kindle such a fire in your wood, as shall consume all that is about you.'" ^{22 1} Thus said the LORD also, "Go down in to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there these words, ² and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, thou king of Judah that sittest in the kingly seat of David: thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that go in and out at this gate. ³ Thus the LORD commandeth: Keep equity and righteousness, deliver the oppressed from the power of the violent: do not grieve nor oppress the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place. ⁴ And if ye keep these things faithfully, then shall there come in at the door of this house, kings, to sit upon David's seat: they shall be carried in Chariots and ride upon horses, both they and their servants, and their people. ⁵ But if ye will not be obedient unto these commandments, I swear by mine own self, sayeth the LORD, this house shall be waste. ⁶ For thus hath the LORD spoken upon the king's house of Judah: Thou art the head, as Gilead is in Lebanon: What wilt thou lay of it, if I make thee and thy cities also not so waste that no man shall dwell therein? ⁷ I will prepare a destroyer with his weapons for thee, to hew down thy special Cedar trees, and to cast them in the fire. ⁸ And all the people that go by this city, shall speak one to another: Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this noble city? ⁹ Then shall it be answered: Because they have broken the covenant of the LORD their God, and have worshipped and served strange gods.'" ¹⁰ Mourn not over the dead, and be not woe for them, but be sorry for him that departeth away: for he cometh not again, and seeth his native country no more. ¹¹ For thus sayeth the LORD, as touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned after his father, and is carried out of this place, "He shall never come hither again, ¹² for he shall die in the place whereunto he is led captive, and shall see this land no more. ¹³ Woe worth him, that buildeth his house with unrighteousness, and his parlors with the good that he hath gotten by violence: which never recompenceth his neighbour's labour, nor payeth him his hire. ¹⁴ He thinketh in himself, 'I will build me a wide house, and gorgeous parlors.' He causeth windows to be hewn therein, and the ceilings and joists maketh he of Cedar, and painteth them with Sinoper. ¹⁵ Thinkest thou to reign, now that thou provokest me to wrath with thy Cedar trees? Did not thy father eat and drink, and prosper well, as long as he dealt with equity and righteousness? ¹⁶ Yea when he helped the oppressed and poor to their right, then prospered he well. From whence came this? But only because he had me before his eyes, sayeth the LORD. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, as for thine eyes and thine heart, they look upon covetousness, to shed innocent blood, and to do wrong and violence.'" ¹⁸ And therefore, thus sayeth the LORD against Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, "They shall not mourn for him as they used to do, 'Alas brother, alas sister.' Neither shall they say unto him, 'Alas sir, alas for that noble prince.' ¹⁹ But as an Ass shall he be buried corrupt, and be cast without the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰ Climb up the hill of Lebanon, O thou daughter Zion! Lift up thy voice upon Bashan, cry from all parts: for all thy lovers are destroyed. ²¹ I gave thee warning, while thou wast yet in prosperity. But thou saidst, 'I will not hear.' And this manner hast thou used from thy youth, that thou wouldest never hear my voice. ²² All thy herdsmen shall be driven with the wind, and thy darlings shall be carried away into captivity. Then shalt thou be brought to shame and confusion, because of all thy wickedness: ²³ thou that dwellest upon Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the Cedar's trees. O how great shall thy mourning be, when thy sorrows come upon thee, as a woman travailing with child? ²⁴ As truly as I live, sayeth the LORD, Though Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet of my right hand, yet will I pluck him off: ²⁵ And I will give thee into the power of them that seek to slay thee, and into the power of them that thou fearest: into the power of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and into the power of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ Moreover, I will send thee, and thy mother that bare thee, into a strange land where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. ²⁷ But as for the land that ye will desire to return unto, ye shall never come at it again. ²⁸ This man Jechoniah shall be like an image robbed and torn in pieces, which pleaseth no man, for all his apparel. Wherefore both he and his seed shall be sent away, and cast out into a land, that they know not. ²⁹ O thou earth, earth, earth: hear the word of the LORD! ³⁰ Write this man among the outlaws, for no prosperity shall this man have all his life long. Neither shall any of his seed be so happy as to sit upon the seat of David, and to bear rule in Judah."