Jeremiah 22:1-30
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 largea 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,b 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;c 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 inhabitantd 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 desiree 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.
Jeremiah 22:1 to Jeremiah 23:8. This section contains several distinct Jeremianic prophecies, relating to contemporary kings of Judah; they have been editorially collected, probably with some expansion.
Jeremiah 22:1. Introduction. The prophet is sent down to the palace (lower than the Temple, and on the S.) to declare judgment and justice as the condition of permanence in the royal line. He bewails in a dirge (Jeremiah 22:6 f.) the fall of the royal house, which is like that of well-wooded districts (Gilead, Lebanon) delivered over to the axe. The cause is the disloyalty of the city to Yahweh (Jeremiah 22:8 f.; taken from Deuteronomy 29:4 f.).
Jeremiah 22:5. For this solemn oath by Yahweh, cf. Jeremiah 49:13, and Hebrews 6:13.
Jeremiah 22:10. Josiah and Jehoahaz. The fate of Josiah (the dead; slain in battle at Megiddo, 608, 2 Kings 23:29 f.; cf. 2 Chronicles 35:25) is less pitiful than that of Jehoahaz (Shallum), who reigned (for three months in 608) until taken captive by Pharaoh Necho into Egypt, where he died (2 Kings 23:31 ff.; this king, like Jeremiah, was anti-Egyptian in his policy).
Jeremiah 22:13. Jehoiakim (608- 597; 2 Kings 23:36). His injustice and rapacity (Jeremiah 22:17 mg.), as shown in his sumptuous palace-building, are contrasted with the normal life and upright rule of his father, Josiah. Jehoiakim shall not be honoured in death by his relatives (1 Kings 13:30) or subjects (Jeremiah 34:5), but flung forth unburied (Jeremiah 36:30; cf. 2 Kings 24:6, where there is no mention of burial).
Jeremiah 22:14. chambers: the word denotes structures on the roof; cf. Thomson, p. 160. In Jeremiah 22:14 b read panelling it. painting.
Jeremiah 22:20. Jehoiachin. Jerusalem is bidden to climb the heights and lament (Jeremiah 7:29), because her lovers (Jeremiah 4:30; probably of allies) are broken, and the wind shall shepherd her shepherds (rulers). Her fancied security, as of a bird making its nest in Lebanon, will be turned into groaning travail (Jeremiah 22:23 mg.). Jehoiachin (Coniah or Jeconiah, who reigned for three months in 597, 2 Kings 24:8 ff; 2 Kings 25:27) is rejected by Yahweh, and will be exiled with his mother (Nehushta, Jeremiah 13:18; 2 Kings 24:8); he is to be recorded (Isaiah 4:3) as having no royal successor.
Jeremiah 22:20. Abarim: E. of Dead Sea.
Jeremiah 22:24. signet: Haggai 2:23.
Jeremiah 22:30. Jehoiachin was not childless according to 1 Chronicles 3:17.
Jeremiah 23:1. Conclusion. Denunciation of the unworthy rulers (shepherds, Jeremiah 22:22): ye have scattered, I will gather my flock (Psalms 95:7) and appoint worthy rulers (Jeremiah 23:1). The king called the Shoot (Jeremiah 23:5 mg.) will continue the worthy traditions of David (2 Samuel 8:15) and rule over a united people (Israel as well as Judah). His symbolic name shall be Yahweh is our righteousness, i.e. the source of all our well-being. This restoration will eclipse the original deliverance from Egypt (Jeremiah 23:5). Note that this Messianic king is an ideal human ruler, acting as Yahweh's administrator, and subordinate to him.
Jeremiah 23:5. Branch: Shoot, i.e. from the ground, as in Heb. of Genesis 19:25; for the later use of the term as title, cf. Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12.
Jeremiah 23:6. The title is used of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 33:16; cf. Ezekiel 48:35; there is a tacit reference here to Zedekiah (597- 586), whose name means Yahweh is righteousness.