Chapter 22.
Thus saith the Lord, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this
word, 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.
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.
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.
But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord,
that this house shall become a desolation.
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.
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.
And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his
neighbor, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their
God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
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.
For thus saith the Lord touching Shalem, 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, but he shall die in the place whither they
have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
wrong, that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for his
work.
That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out
windows, and it is sealed with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
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.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy, then it was well with him.
Was not this to know me, saith the Lord?
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.
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of
Judah.
They shall not lament for him, saying, Our my brother, or Our sister.
They shall not lament for him, saying, Our Lord, or Our his glory.
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates
of Jerusalem.
Go up to Lebanon, and cry, and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the
passages, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
I speak unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear.
This hath been thy manner from thy youth, and thou obeyedst not my voice.
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.
O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt
thou be when pangs come upon thee, the painers of a woman in travail.
As I live, saith the Lord, though Keniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
with a signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence.
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.
And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bear thee, into another country,
where ye were not born, and there shall ye die.
But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
Is this man Keniah, 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?
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
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.