Jeremiah 22

A Message for Judah’s Kings

22This is what the Lord said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,H559H3068H3381H1004H4428H3063H1696H16972‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.H559H8085H1697H3068H4428H3063H3427H3678H1732H5650H5971H935H81793This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!H559H3068H6213H4941H6666H5337H1497H3027H6216H3238H2554H1616H3490H490H8210H5355H1818H47254If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.H6213H1697H6213H935H8179H1004H4428H3427H3678H1732H7392H7393H5483H5650H59715But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the Lord, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”H8085H1697H7650H5002H3068H1004H2723

A Message about the Palace

6Now this is what the Lord says concerning Judah’s royal palace: “I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.H559H3068H4428H1004H3063H1568H7218H3844H7896H4057H5892H3427H34277I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.H6942H7843H376H3627H3772H4005H730H5307H7848“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the Lord destroy such a great city?’H7227H1471H5674H5892H559H376H7453H3068H6213H1419H58929And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.’”H559H5800H1285H3068H430H7812H312H430H5647

A Message about Jehoahaz

10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to see his native land again.H1058H4191H5110H1058H1058H1980H7725H7200H4138H77611For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz

, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.H559H3068H413H7967H1121H2977H4428H3063H4427H2977H1H3318H4725H772512He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”H4191H4725H1540H7200H776

A Message about Jehoiakim

13And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim

, who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.H1945H1129H1004H3808H6664H5944H4941H7453H5647H2600H5414H646714He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’H559H1129H4060H1004H7304H5944H7167H2474H5603H730H4886H835015But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.H4427H8474H730H1H398H8354H6213H4941H6666H289616He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the Lord.H1777H1779H6041H34H2896H1847H5002H306817“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”H5869H3820H1215H8210H5355H1818H6233H4835H621318Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah: “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’H559H3068H3079H1121H2977H4428H3063H5594H1945H251H1945H269H5594H1945H113H1945H193519He will be buried like a dead donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!H6912H6900H2543H5498H7993H1973H8179H338920Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river

. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you.H5927H3844H6817H5414H6963H1316H6817H5676H157H766521I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood—you simply will not obey me!H1696H7962H559H8085H1870H5271H8085H696322And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.H7307H7462H7462H157H3212H7628H954H3637H745123It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—anguish like that of a woman in labor.H3427H3844H7077H730H2603H2256H935H2427H3205

A Message for Jehoiachin

24“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin

son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.H2416H5002H3068H3659H1121H3079H4428H3063H2368H3225H3027H542325I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar

of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.H5414H3027H1245H5315H3027H6440H3016H3027H5019H4428H894H3027H377826I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.H2904H517H3205H312H776H3205H419127You will never again return to the land you yearn for.H776H5375H5315H7725H772528“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?H376H3659H959H5310H6089H3627H2656H7993H2233H2904H776H304529O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the Lord!H776H776H776H8085H1697H306830This is what the Lord says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’H559H3068H3789H376H6185H1397H6743H3117H376H2233H6743H3427H3678H1732H4910H3063