Jeremiah 22

Thomson(i) 1 Thus saith the Lord, Go down to the house of the king of Juda and thou shalt speak there this word 2 and say, Hear a word of the Lord, king of Juda, who art seated on the throne of David, thou and thy household and thy people and they who enter in at these gates! 3 Thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment and justice and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of him who wrongeth him; and over the stranger and the orphan and the widow tyrannise not; nor be guilty of impiety; nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you faithfully execute this charge, there shall enter in at the gates of this house, kings seated on the throne of David and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not perform these things, by myself I have sworn, saith the Lord, This house shall be a desolation. 6 For thus saith the Lord against the house of the king of Juda, though thou wert to me as Galaad, as the top of Libanus, I will make thee a7 desolation, cities uninhabitable. 7 I will indeed bring against thee a destroyer, a man with his axe; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars and throw them into the fire. 8 And when nations shall pass by this city, they will say, every one to his neighbour, "Why hath the Lord dealt thus with this great city?" 9 To which it will be said in reply, "Because they forsook the Lord their God and worshipped strange gods and served them." 10 Weep not for him who is dead, nor utter lamentations for him, weep bitterly for him who is going away; for he shall never return, nor see any more his native country. 11 For thus saith the Lord respecting Sellem son of Josias, who reigned in the room of his father and who is gone from this place; he shall not return hither any more: 12 but in the place to which I have transported him, there he shall die and this land he shall see no more. 13 With regard to him who is building himself a house, but not with righteousness, and lofty stories, but not with justice: he useth the service of his neighbour for nothing, and will not pay him his wages. 14 Thou hast built thyself a well proportioned house, lofty chambers well fitted with windows, and cieled with cedar and painted with vermillion. 15 Is it thy desire to be made king? because thou art instigated by thy father Achaz, are there not feasts? are there not entertainments? better were it for thee to execute judgment and justice. 16 They did not take cognisance, they did not administer justice to the lowly, nor decide righteously the cause of the needy, is not this owing to thy not knowing me? saith the Lord. 17 Behold thine eyes are not good, neither is thy heart; but they are bent upon thine inordinate desires and on the shedding of innocent blood, and on injustice, and on murder; that thou mayst perpetrate these things. 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord respecting Joakim son of Josias, king of Juda, even concerning this man, they shall not utter for him the lamentation "Alas Brother" nor shall they bewail him saying, "Alas lord" 19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass; being blotted out he shall be cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Ascend Libanus and scream: ascend Basan, and shout. Shout till thy voice reach the sea coast; for all thy lovers are destroyed. 21 I spake to thee respecting thy fall; but thou saidst, "I will not listen." This hath been thy way from thy youth, thou hast not hearkened to my voice. 22 All thy shepherds shall be fed with wind; and all thy lovers shall go into captivity; that thou mayst then be ashamed and confounded on the account of them who love thee. 23 inhabitant of Lebanon, who hast thy nest in the cedars, thou shalt groan bitterly when pangs come upon thee like those of a woman in travail: 24 as I live saith the Lord though Jechonias may be made a son of Joakim, a king of Juda, a signet on my right hand I will drag thee out thence 25 and deliver thee into the hands of them who seek thy life; of them whose countenance thou dreadest; into the hands of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast out thee and the mother who brought thee forth, into a land where thou wast not born, and there thou shalt die. 27 Into the land which their souls long for they shall not return. 28 Jechonias is dishonoured like a vessel which is useless, because he is hurled away and cast into a land which he knew not. 29 O earth, earth, hear a word of the Lord! 30 record the chieftain himself as a man of low rank, exiled by the voice of a herald; for no increase from his seed shall sit on the throne of David, nor any more be chief in Juda.