Jeremiah 22–23

JUDGMENT AGAINST SINFUL KINGS

22This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. ²You are to say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David^y—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. ³This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.^z Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.^aa Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.^a Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace^b riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people. ⁵But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by myself^c—this is the Lord’s declaration—that this house will become a ruin.’ ”^d

⁶For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like Gilead^e to me,

or the summit of Lebanon,

but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,

uninhabited cities.

⁷I will set apart destroyers^f against you,

each with his weapons.

They will cut down the choicest of your cedars

and throw them into the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant^g of the Lord their God and bowed in worship to other gods and served them.’ ”^h

A MESSAGE CONCERNING SHALLUM

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead;

do not mourn for him.

Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,

for he will never return again

and see his native land.ⁱ

¹¹For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum^j son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah, and who has left this place: “He will never return here again, ¹²but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”

A MESSAGE CONCERNING JEHOIAKIM

¹³Woe for the one who builds his palace

through unrighteousness,^k

his upstairs rooms through injustice,

who makes his neighbor serve without pay

and will not give him his wages,^l

¹⁴who says, “I will build myself a massive palace,

with spacious upstairs rooms.”

He will cut windows^A in it,

and it will be paneled with cedar^m

and painted bright red.

¹⁵Are you a king because you excel in cedar?

Didn’t your father eat and drink

and administer justice and righteousness?ⁿ

Then it went well with him.

¹⁶He took up the case of the poor and needy;^o

then it went well.

Is this not what it means to know me?

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁷But you have eyes and a heart for nothing

except your own dishonest profit,

shedding innocent blood

and committing extortion and oppression.^p

¹⁸Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim^q son of Josiah, king of Judah:

They will not mourn for him, saying,

“Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!”

They will not mourn for him, saying,

“Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!”

¹⁹He will be buried like a donkey,^r

dragged off and thrown

outside Jerusalem’s gates.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out;

raise your voice in Bashan;

cry out from Abarim,^s

for all your lovers have been crushed.^t

²¹I spoke to you when you were secure.

You said, “I will not listen.”

This has been your way since youth;^u

indeed, you have never listened to me.

²²The wind will take charge of^B all your shepherds,

and your lovers will go into captivity.

Then you will be ashamed and humiliated^v

because of all your evil.

²³You residents of Lebanon,

nestled among the cedars,

how you will groan^C when pains come on you,

agony like a woman in labor.^a

A MESSAGE CONCERNING CONIAH

²⁴“As I live”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“though you, Coniah^Db son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring^c on my right hand, I would tear you from it. ²⁵In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread,^d who intend to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. ²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth^e to you into another land,^f where neither of you were born, and there you will both die. ²⁷They will never return to the land they long to return to.”

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,^g

a jar no one wants?

Why are he and his descendants hurled out

and cast into a land they have not known?

²⁹Earth, earth, earth,

hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰This is what the Lord says:

Record this man as childless,^h

a man who will not be successful in his lifetime.

None of his descendants will succeed

in sitting on the throne of Davidⁱ

or ruling again in Judah.

THE LORD AND HIS SHEEP

23“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!”^j This is the Lord’s declaration. ²“Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend my people: You have scattered my flock,^k banished them, and have not attended to them.^l I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ³“I will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have banished them,^m and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.^{n 4}I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them.^o They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.”^p This is the Lord’s declaration.

THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH OF DAVID

⁵“Look, the days are coming”^q—this is the Lord’s declaration—

“when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David.^r

He will reign wisely as king

and administer justice and righteousness in the land.^s

⁶In his days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell securely.^t

This is the name he will be called:

The Lord Is Our Righteousness.^Au

⁷“Look, the days are coming”^v—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives^w who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I^B had banished them.’ They will dwell once more in their own land.”^x

FALSE PROPHETS CONDEMNED

⁹Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,^y

and all my bones tremble.

I have become like a drunkard,

like a man overcome by wine,

because of the Lord,

because of his holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers;^z

the land mourns^aa because of the curse,^ab

and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up.

Their way of life^C has become evil,

and their power is not rightly used

¹¹because both prophet and priest are ungodly,^ac

even in my house^ad I have found their evil.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹²Therefore, their way will seem

like slippery paths in the gloom.^ae

They will be driven away and fall down there,

for I will bring disaster on them,

the year of their punishment.^af

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹³Among the prophets of Samaria

I saw something disgusting:

They prophesied by Baal

and led my people Israel astray.^a

¹⁴Among the prophets of Jerusalem also

I saw a horrible thing:^b

They commit adultery and walk in lies.

They strengthen the hands of evildoers,

and none turns his back on evil.

They are all like Sodom^c to me;

Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says concerning the prophets:

I am about to feed them wormwood^d

and give them poisoned water to drink,^e

for from the prophets of Jerusalem

ungodliness^A has spread throughout the land.

¹⁶This is what the Lord of Armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you. They speak visions from their own minds,^f not from the Lord’s mouth.^{g 17}They keep on saying to those who despise me,^h ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’ⁱ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ”

¹⁸For who has stood in the council^j of the Lord

to see and hear his word?

Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?

¹⁹Look, a storm from the Lord!^k

Wrath has gone out,

a whirling storm.

It will whirl about the heads of the wicked.

²⁰The Lord’s anger will not turn away^l

until he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart.

In time to come you will understand it clearly.^m

²¹I did not send out these prophets,ⁿ

yet they ran.^o

I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

²²If they had really stood in my council,

they would have enabled my people to hear my words

and would have turned them from their evil ways

and their evil deeds.^p

²³“Am I a God who is only near”^q—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and not a God who is far away? ²⁴Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him?”^r—the Lord’s declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”^s—the Lord’s declaration.

²⁵“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in my name have said: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’^{t 26}How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds? ²⁷Through their dreams that they tell one another, they plan to cause my people to forget my name as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.^{u 28}The prophet who has only a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has my word should speak my word truthfully, for what is straw compared to grain?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ²⁹“Is not my word like fire”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and like a hammer that pulverizes rock? ³⁰Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets”^v—the Lord’s declaration—“who steal my words from each other. ³¹I am against the prophets”—the Lord’s declaration—“who use their own tongues to make a declaration. ³²I am against those who prophesy false dreams”^w—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading my people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all^x to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

THE BURDEN OF THE LORD

³³“Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you…