| Chapter
22 |
| 1 | Thus
saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this
word, |
| 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; Execute ye judgment
and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor:
and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow,
neither shed innocent blood in this place. |
| 4 | For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in
by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in
chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. |
| 5 | But if ye will not hear these words, I
swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. |
| 6 | For thus saith the LORD
unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of
Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not
inhabited. |
| 7 | And I will
prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut
down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. |
| 8 | And many nations shall pass by this
city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD
done thus unto this great city? |
| 9
| Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. |
| 10 | Weep ye not for the dead, neither
bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more,
nor see his native country. |
| 11
| For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of
Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this
place; He shall not return thither any more: |
| 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
unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service
without wages, and giveth him not for his work; |
|
14 | That saith, I will build me a wide house and large
chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted
with vermilion. |
| 15 | Shalt
thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and
drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? |
| 16 | He judged the cause of the poor
and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the
LORD. |
| 17 | But thine eyes
and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent
blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. |
| 18 | Therefore thus saith the LORD
concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for
him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him,
saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! |
|
19 | He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn 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 the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. |
| 21 | I spake unto thee in thy prosperity;
but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth,
that thou obeyedst not my voice. |
|
22 | The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go
into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy
wickedness. |
| 23 | O
inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt
thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! |
| 24 | As I live, saith the LORD,
though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon 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
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. |
| 26 | And I will cast thee out, 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, thither shall they not
return. |
| 28 | Is this man
Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore
are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know
not? |
| 29 | O earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the LORD. |
|
30 | Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that
shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting
upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. |
