Chapter 22

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

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

2 and 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.” ’ ”

6 For 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.’ ”

10 aDo 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.

11 For 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;

12 but 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,

14 Who 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.”

18 Therefore 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 1you 2off;

25 and 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.’ ”