Jeremiah 22–23

22^*Thus saith the Lord; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, ²And say, ^aHear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, ^bthat sittest upon the throne of David, ^cthou, and thy servants, and thy people ^athat enter in by these gates: ³Thus saith the Lord; ^dExecute ye judgment and righteousness, ^dand deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and ^edo no wrong, do no violence ^efto the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither ^fgshed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if ye do this thing indeed, ^hthen shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings ⁱsitting ^†upon the throne of David, ^hriding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. ⁵But if ye will not hear these words, ^jI swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house ^kshall become a desolation. ⁶For thus saith the Lord unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of ^lLebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and ^mcities which are not inhabited. ⁷And I will ⁿprepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down ^othy choice cedars, and ^pcast them into the fire. ⁸And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, ^qWherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? ^9rThen they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, ^rand worshipped other gods, and served them.

^10sWeep ye not for ^tthe dead, neither bemoan him:

But weep sore for ^uhim that goeth away:

For he shall return no more,

Nor see his native country.

¹¹For thus saith the Lord touching ^vShallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, ^uwwhich went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: ¹²But he shall die ^win the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

^13xWoe unto ^yhim that buildeth his house by unrighteousness,

And his ^zchambers by wrong;

^aThat useth his neighbour’s service ^bwithout wages,

And giveth him not for his work;

¹⁴That saith, I will build me a wide house and ^†large ^zchambers,

And cutteth him out ^||windows;

And it is ^ccieled with cedar, and painted ^dwith vermilion.

¹⁵Shalt thou reign, because thou ^eclosest thyself in cedar?

Did not thy father eat and drink,

And ^fdo judgment and justice,

And then ^git was well with him?

¹⁶He judged ^hthe cause of the poor and needy; then ^git was well with him:

Was not this ⁱto know me? saith the Lord.

^17jBut thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy ^kcovetousness,

And ^jfor to shed innocent blood,

And ^jlfor oppression, and for ^||violence, to do it.

¹⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning ^mJehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah;

^n*They shall not lament for him, saying, ^oAh my brother! or, Ah sister!

They shall not lament for him, saying, ^pAh lord! or, Ah his glory!

¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,

^qDrawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

^20*Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan,

And cry from ^rthe passages:

For all ^sthy lovers are destroyed.

²¹I spake unto thee in thy ^†prosperity;

But thou saidst, I will not hear.

This hath been thy manner ^tfrom thy youth,

^uThat thou obeyedst not my voice.

²²The wind shall eat up all ^vthy pastors,

And ^sthy lovers shall go into captivity:

Surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

²³O ^†inhabitant of ^wLebanon, ^xthat makest thy nest in the cedars,

How gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee,

^yThe pain as of a woman in travail!

^24zAs I live, saith the Lord, though ^aConiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were ^bthe signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; ²⁵And ^cI will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them ^dwhose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ^26eAnd ^fI will cast thee out, and ^gthy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. ²⁷But to the land whereunto they ^†desire to return, ^hthither shall they not return. ²⁸Is this man ^aConiah a despised broken idol? is he ⁱa vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they ^kcast out, he and his seed, and are ^ecast into ^la land which they know not? ^29mO earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁰Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man ⁿchildless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, ^ositting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

23Woe be unto ^athe pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. ²Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against ^athe pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, ^bI will visit upon you ^cthe evil of your doings, saith the Lord. ³And ^dI will gather the remnant of my flock ^eout of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and ^fthey shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴And I will set up ^gshepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.

^5hBehold, ⁱthe days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous ^kBranch, and ^la King shall reign and ^mprosper, and shall execute ⁿjudgment and justice in the earth. ⁶In his days Judah shall be saved, and ^oIsrael shall dwell ^psafely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, ^†qTHE LORD ^rOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ^7sTherefore, behold, ⁱthe days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ⁸But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and ^efrom all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

^9ssMine heart within me is broken because of the prophets;

^tAll my bones shake;

I am like a drunken man,

And like a man whom wine hath overcome,

^tBecause of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness.

¹⁰For ^uthe land is full of adulterers;

For ^vbecause of ^||swearing ^wthe land mourneth;

^xThe pleasant places of the wilderness ^yare dried up,

And their ^||course is evil, and their force is not right.

¹¹For ^zboth prophet and priest are profane;

Yea, ^ain my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.

¹²Wherefore ^btheir way shall be unto them as slippery ways ^cin the darkness:

They shall be driven on, and fall therein:

^dFor I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

¹³And I have seen ^||†efolly in the prophets of ^fSamaria;

^gThey prophesied in Baal,

And ^hcaused my people Israel to err.

¹⁴I have seen also in ⁱthe prophets of Jerusalem ^||an horrible thing:

^kThey commit adultery, and ^lwalk in lies:

They ^mstrengthen also the hands of evildoers,

That none doth return from his wickedness:

They are all of them unto me ⁿas Sodom,

And ⁿthe inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning ⁱthe prophets; ^oBehold, I will feed them with ^pwormwood, ^oand make them drink ^qthe water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ^||profaneness gone forth into all the land. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: ^rthey speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, ^sYe shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the ^||imagination of his own heart, ^tNo evil shall come upon you. ¹⁸For ^uwho hath stood in the ^||counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? ^19wBehold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even ^xa grievous whirlwind: ^wit shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. ^20yThe anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: ^yzin the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. ^21aI have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. ²²But if they had ^bstood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have ^cturned them from their evil way, and from ^dthe evil of their doings. ²³Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and ^enot a God afar off? ^24fCan any hide himself in secret places ^ethat I shall not see him? saith the Lord. ^gDo not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets said, ^hthat prophesy lies in my name, saying, I ⁱhave dreamed, I have dreamed. ²⁶How long shall this be in the heart of ^kthe prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are ^lprophets of the deceit of their own heart; ²⁷Which think to cause my people to forget my name ⁱby their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, ^mas their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. ²⁸The prophet ^†that hath a dream, ⁱlet him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. ²⁹ⁿIs not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that ^obreaketh the rock in pieces? ³⁰Therefore, behold, ^pI am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, ^||that use their tongues, and say, He saith. ³²Behold, I am against them ⁱthat prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and ^qcause my people to err by their lies, and by their ^rlightness; ^syet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

³³And when this people, or ^tthe prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is ^uthe burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? ^vI will even forsake you, saith the Lord. ³⁴And as for ^tthe prophet, and the priest, and the…