Jeremiah 22 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

“You are [as valuable] to Me as [the green pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan]

Or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan],

Yet most certainly [if you will not listen to Me] I will make you a wilderness,

And uninhabited cities.

“For I will prepare and appoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars

And throw them in the fire.

“Many nations will pass by this city; and each man will say to another, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’

Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him;

But weep bitterly for the one who goes away [into exile],

For he will never return

And see his native country [again].

For thus says the LORD in regard to Shallum (Jehoahaz) the [third] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went from this place, “Shallum will not return here anymore;

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds his house by [acts of] unrighteousness

And his upper chambers by injustice,

Who uses his neighbor’s service without pay

And does not give him wages [for his work],

Who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house

With large upper rooms,

And cut out its [wide] windows,

And panel it with cedar and paint it vermilion.’

“Do you think that you become a king because you have much more cedar [in your palace than Solomon]?

Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank,

Do just and righteous acts [being upright and in right standing with God]?

Then all was well with him.

“He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then all was well.

Is that not what it means to know Me?”

Says the LORD.

“But your eyes and your heart

Are only intent on your own dishonest gain,

On shedding innocent blood,

On oppression and extortion and violence.”

Therefore thus says the LORD in regard to [fn]Jehoiakim the [second] son of Josiah, king of Judah,

“The relatives will not lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) for him:

‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister,’ [how great our loss]!

The subjects will not lament for him:

‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, majesty [how great was his glory]!’

“[fn]He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey—

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

“Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out,

And raise your voice in [the hills of] Bashan [across the Jordan];

Cry out also from [fn]Abarim,

For all your lovers (allies) have been destroyed.

“I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity,

But you said, ‘I will not listen!’

This has been your attitude and practice from your youth;

You have not obeyed My voice.

“The wind [of adversity] will carry away all your shepherds (rulers, statesmen),

And your lovers (allies) will go into exile.

Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated and disgraced

Because of all your wickedness.

“O inhabitant of [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made from the cedars of] Lebanon,

You who nest in the cedars,

How you will groan and how miserable you will be when pains come on you,

Pain like a woman in childbirth!

“As I live,” says the LORD, “though [fn]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] on My right hand, yet would I pull you (Coniah) off.

“Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken jar?

Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure?

Why are he and his [royal] descendants hurled out

And cast into a land which they do not know or understand?

“O land, land, land,

Hear the word of the LORD!

“Thus says the LORD,

‘Write this man [Coniah] down as childless,

A man who will not prosper (succeed) in his lifetime;

For not one of his descendants will succeed

In sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.’”