22 1 He exhorteth the King to judgment and righteousness. 9 Why Jerusalem is brought into captivity. 11 The death of Shallum the son of Josiah is prophesied.
1 Thus said the Lord, Go down to the house of the King of Judah, and speak there this thing,
2 And say, Hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates.
3 Thus saith the Lord, (A)Execute ye judgment and [a]righteousness, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor, and vex not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow: do no violence, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do this thing, then shall the kings sitting upon the throne of David enter in by the gates of this House, (B)and ride upon chariots and upon horses, both he and his servants and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I [b]swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this House shall be waste.
6 For thus hath the Lord spoken upon the king’s house of Judah, Thou art [c]Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and as cities not inhabited.
7 And I will [d]prepare destroyers against thee, everyone with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy chief [e]cedar trees, and cast them in the fire.
8 [f]And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
9 Then shall they answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 ¶ Weep not for the dead, and be not moved for them, but weep for him [g]that goeth out: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus saith the Lord, As touching [h]Shallum the son of Josiah King of Judah, which reigned for Josiah his father, which went out of this place, he shall not return thither,
12 But he shall die in the place, whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13 ¶ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by [i]unrighteousness, and his chambers without equity: he useth his neighbor without wages, and giveth him not for his work.
14 He saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers: so he will make himself large windows, and ceiling with cedar, and paint them with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy [j]father eat and drink and prosper, when he executed judgment and justice?
16 When he judged the cause of the afflicted and the poor, he prospered: was not this because he knew me, saith the Lord?
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are but only for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for destruction, even to do this.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord against Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, They shall not [k]lament him, saying, Ah, my brother, or ah sister: neither shall they mourn for him, saying, Ah, lord, or ah, his glory.
19 He shall be buried, as an ass [l]is buried, even drawn and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
20 ¶ Go up to [m]Lebanon, and cry: shout in [n]Bashan, and cry by the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spake unto thee when thou wast in prosperity: but thou saidest, I will not hear, this hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou wouldest not obey my voice.
22 The wind shall feed all thy pastors, [o]and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded of all thy wickedness.
23 Thou that dwellest in Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the [p]cedars, how beautiful shalt thou be when sorrows come upon thee, as the sorrow of a woman in travail?
24 As I live, saith the Lord, though [q]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were the signet of my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.
25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them, whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cause them to carry thee away, and thy mother that bare thee into another country, where ye were not born, and there shall ye die.
27 But to the land, whereunto they desire to return, they shall not return thither.
28 Is not this man Coniah as a despised and broken idol? or as a vessel, wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they carried away, he and his seed, and cast out into a land that they know not?
29 O [r]earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30 Thus saith the Lord, Write this [s]man destitute of children, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall be no man of his seed that shall prosper and sit upon the throne of David, or bear rule anymore in Judah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 22:3 This was his ordinary manner of preaching before the Kings, from Josiah unto Zedekiah, which was about forty years.
- Jeremiah 22:5 Showing that there is none greater than he is, Heb. 6:13, and that he will most certainly perform his oath.
- Jeremiah 22:6 He compareth Jerusalem to Gilead, which was beyond Jordan, and the beauty of Judea to Lebanon.
- Jeremiah 22:7 The Hebrew word signifieth to sanctify, because the Lord doth dedicate to his use and purpose such as he prepareth to execute his work, Isa. 13:3; Jer. 6:4 and 12:3.
- Jeremiah 22:7 Thy buildings made of Cedar trees.
- Jeremiah 22:8 As they that wonder at a thing which they thought would never have come so to pass, Deut. 29:24; 1 Kings 9:8.
- Jeremiah 22:10 Signifying, that they should lose their king: for Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and yielded himself, and was carried into Babylon, 2 Kings 24:12.
- Jeremiah 22:11 Whom some think to be Jehoiachin, and that Josiah was his grandfather: but as seemeth, this was Jehoiakim, as verse 18.
- Jeremiah 22:13 By bribes, and extortion.
- Jeremiah 22:15 Meaning, Josiah, who was not given to ambition and superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and did only delight in setting forth God’s glory, and to do justice to all.
- Jeremiah 22:18 For everyone shall have enough to lament for himself.
- Jeremiah 22:19 Not honorably among his fathers, but as carrions are cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect, read 2 Kings 24:9. Josephus Antiquities 10:8, writeth that the enemy slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast before the walls unburied, see Jer. 36:30.
- Jeremiah 22:20 To call to the Assyrians for help.
- Jeremiah 22:20 For this was the way out of India to Assyria, whereby is meant that all help should fail: for the Chaldeans have subdued both them and the Egyptians.
- Jeremiah 22:22 Both thy governors and they that should help thee, shall vanish away as wind.
- Jeremiah 22:23 Thou that art built of the fair Cedar trees of Lebanon.
- Jeremiah 22:24 Who was called Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, whom he calleth here Coniah in contempt, who thought his kingdom could never depart from him, because he came of the stock of David, and therefore for the promise sake could not be taken from his house: but he abused God’s promise, and therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.
- Jeremiah 22:29 He showeth that all posterities shall be witnesses of his just plague, as though it were registered for perpetual memory.
- Jeremiah 22:30 Not that he had no children (for after that he begat Shealtiel in the captivity, Matt. 1:12) but that none should reign after him as King.