Jeremiah 22–23

Chapter 22

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

¹Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word

²and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who ^asits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

³‘Thus says the Lord, “^aDo justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his ^boppressor. Also ^cdo not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not ^dshed innocent blood in this place.

⁴“For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then ^akings will enter the gates of this house, sitting ¹in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people.

⁵“^aBut if you will not obey these words, I ^bswear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.” ’ ”

⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are like ^aGilead to Me,

Like the summit of Lebanon;

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a ^bwilderness,

Like cities which are not inhabited.

⁷“For I will set apart ^adestroyers against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will ^bcut down your choicest cedars

And ^cthrow them on the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ^asay to one another, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?’

⁹“Then they will ¹answer, ‘Because they ^aforsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ”

^10aDo not weep for the dead or mourn for him,

But weep continually for the one who goes away;

For ^bhe will never return

Or see his native land.

¹¹For thus says the Lord in regard to ^1aShallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there;

¹²but in the place where they led him captive, there he will ^adie and not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

¹³“Woe to him who builds his house ^awithout righteousness

And his ¹upper rooms without justice,

Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay

And ^bdoes not give him his wages,

¹⁴Who says, ‘I will ^abuild myself a roomy house

With spacious ¹upper rooms,

And cut out its windows,

²Paneling it with ^bcedar and painting it ³bright red.’

¹⁵“Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

And ^ado justice and righteousness?

Then it was ^bwell with him.

¹⁶“He pled the cause of the ^aafflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

^bIs not that what it means to know Me?”

Declares the Lord.

¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart

Are intent only upon your own ^adishonest gain,

And on ^bshedding innocent blood

And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“They will not ^blament for him:

‘^cAlas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’

They will not lament for him:

‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’

¹⁹“He will be ^aburied with a donkey’s burial,

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry out also from ^aAbarim,

For all your ^blovers have been crushed.

²¹“I spoke to you in your prosperity;

But ^ayou said, ‘I will not listen!’

^bThis has been your practice ^cfrom your youth,

That you have not obeyed My voice.

²²“The wind will sweep away all your ^ashepherds,

And your ^blovers will go into captivity;

Then you will surely be ^cashamed and humiliated

Because of all your wickedness.

²³“You who dwell in Lebanon,

Nested in the cedars,

How you will groan when pangs come upon you,

^aPain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴“As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though ^1aConiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a ^bsignet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you ²off;

²⁵and I will ^agive you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶“I will ^ahurl you and your ^bmother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

²⁷“But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.

²⁸“Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?

Or is he an ^aundesirable vessel?

Why have he and his descendants been ^bhurled out

And cast into a ^cland that they had not known?

²⁹“^aO land, land, land,

Hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰“Thus says the Lord,

‘Write this man down ^achildless,

A man who will ^bnot prosper in his days;

For no man of his ^cdescendants will prosper

Sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.’ ”

Chapter 23

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

¹“^aWoe to the shepherds who are ^bdestroying and scattering the ^csheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

²Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are ¹tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to ^aattend to you for the ^bevil of your deeds,” declares the Lord.

³“Then I Myself will ^agather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴“I will also raise up ^ashepherds over them and they will ¹tend them; and they will ^bnot be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^cnor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

⁵“Behold, the ^adays are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous ^1bBranch;

And He will ^creign as king and ²act wisely

And ^ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶“In His days Judah will be saved,

And ^aIsrael will dwell securely;

And this is His ^bname by which He will be called,

‘The ^cLord our righteousness.’

⁷“^aTherefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

^8abut, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^bbrought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

⁹As for the prophets:

My ^aheart is broken within me,

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of the Lord

And because of His holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of ^aadulterers;

For the land ^bmourns because of the curse.

The ^cpastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil

And their might is not right.

¹¹“For ^aboth prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.

¹²“Therefore their way will be like ^aslippery paths to them,

They will be driven away into the ^bgloom and fall down in it;

For I will bring ^ccalamity upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

¹³“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an ^aoffensive thing:

They ^bprophesied by Baal and ^cled My people Israel astray.

¹⁴“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a ^ahorrible thing:

The committing of ^badultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of ^cevildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like ^dSodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to ^afeed them wormwood

And make them drink poisonous water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’ ”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“^aDo not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are ^bleading you into futility;

They speak a ^cvision of their own ¹imagination,

Not ^dfrom the mouth of the Lord.

¹⁷“They keep saying to those who ^adespise Me,

‘The Lord has said, “^bYou will have peace” ’;

And as for everyone who walks in the ^cstubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘^dCalamity will not come upon you.’

¹⁸“But ^awho has stood in the council of the Lord,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given ^bheed to ¹His word and listened?

¹⁹“Behold, the ^astorm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling tempest;

It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

²⁰“The ^aanger of the Lord will not turn back

Until He has ^bperformed and carried out the purposes of His heart;

^cIn the last days you will clearly understand it.

²¹“^aI did not send these prophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

²²“But if they had ^astood in My council,

Then they would have ^bannounced My words to My people,

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

²³“Am I a God who is ^anear,” declares the Lord,

“And not a God far off?

²⁴“Can a man ^ahide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares the Lord.

“^bDo I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

²⁵“I have ^aheard what the prophets have said who ^bprophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a ^cdream, I had a dream!’

²⁶“How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the ^adeception of their own heart,

²⁷who intend to ^amake My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers ^bforgot My name because of Baal?

²⁸“The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has ^aMy word speak My word in truth. ^bWhat does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.

²⁹“Is not My word like ^afire?” declares the Lord, “and like a ^bhammer which shatters a rock?

³⁰“Therefore behold, ^aI am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.

³¹“Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’

³²“Behold, I am against those who have prophesied ^afalse dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and ^breckless boasting; yet ^cI did not…