Jeremiah 22

Jeremiah 22:6

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.

Thus saith the Lord unto the king’s house, which is his ancient court, upon the hill of Zion; As mount Gilead is the prime hill of all those mountains which go under the name of Lebanon, so art thou the most eminent and remarkable place in all Judea; yet surely thou shalt, through my just judgments, become a very wilderness.

Jeremiah 22:7

And they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

They shall cut down those choice cedar-beams, wherewith thou art built, and cast them into the fire.

Jeremiah 22:10

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.

Never take up lamentations for them that are slain in the siege, for they are past their pain; but weep for those miserable men that are led into captivity, for they shall endure a lingering death, and never return back to their home.

Jeremiah 22:13

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;

Woe be to thee, Jehoiakim, which buildest a goodly royal palace, out of the extreme oppressions of my people; putting them to servile works, for that purpose, without all recompence of wages for their labour;

Jeremiah 22:14

That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, &c.

Which sayest, I will not take up with the old and mean buildings of my ancestors: I will set up a sumptuous pile, fit for a king to dwell in, &c.

Jeremiah 22:15

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?

Dost thou think to reign ever the more happily and securely, for that thou hast closed up thyself in cedar? Thy father, good king Josiah, lived in much content and happiness, by doing justice and right unto his subjects, and prospered in so doing.

Jeremiah 22:18

They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord; or, Ah his glory!

They shall make no public lamentation for him, at his funeral, as they are wont to do for their former princes.

Jeremiah 22:19

He shall be buried with the burial of an ass.

But his carcase shall be shamefully left unburied; exposed to the fowls of the air, or to ravenous beasts; even as the carcase of an ass, which is left to rot in a ditch.

Jeremiah 22:20

Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

Go up then, O miserable Judah, go up to the highest mountains, that look towards Assyria or Egypt, and call for the aid of those thine associates, in whom thou hast trusted: thou shalt find small comfort in them: they shall be destroyed together with thee.

Jeremiah 22:23

O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain of a woman in travail!

O ye citizens of Jerusalem, which dwell in goodly houses made of the cedars of Lebanon, in how woeful a plight shall ye be, when your calamity shall come upon you! Where will then be your pride and delicacy, wherewith ye now please yourselves?

Jeremiah 22:24

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.

As I live saith the Lord, if Jechoniah, the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were as near and as precious to me, as the signet upon the right hand useth to be to him that wears it, yet I would pluck him thence, and cast him away into captivity.

Jeremiah 22:28

Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out? &c.

Is this man, Jechoniah, then so vile and base a thing, as thou makest him? Is he a likely man to be cast out together with his family and seed, into a foreign captivity?

Jeremiah 22:29

O earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

O ye inhabitants of the earth, take diligent heed to this, which I shall now deliver unto you.

Jeremiah 22:30

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, &c.

Take notice, that it is enacted in heaven, that this Jechoniah shall never have issue, that shall sit upon the temporal throne of David: no man of his seed, in succeeding times, shall so prosper as to be king of Judah.