Jer 22, Jer 34 | ESV | STEP | Thus says the Lord : Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word ,

1 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, ^a‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: ^bDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ^cdo no wrong or violence ^dto the resident alien, ^ethe fatherless, and the widow, nor ^fshed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, ^gthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I ^hswear by myself, declares the Lord, that ⁱthis house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of ^jLebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
^kan uninhabited city. ^{▼▼Hebrew cities}
7 ^mI will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
ⁿand they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, ^o“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 ^pAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

10 ^qWeep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
^rbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and ^swho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but ^tin the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

13 ^u“Woe to him who builds his house by ^vunrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
^wwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and ^xpainting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and ^ydo justice and righteousness?
^zThen it was well with him.
16 ^aaHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;
^abthen it was well.
Is not this ^acto know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
^adfor shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

^ae“They shall not lament for him, saying,
^af‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
^ag‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey ^ahhe shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from ^aiAbarim,
for all ^ajyour lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
^akThis has been your way from ^alyour youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 ^amThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and ^anyour lovers shall go into captivity;
^aothen you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of ^apLebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
^aqpain as of a woman in labor!”
24 ^ar“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were ^asthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and ^atgive you ^auinto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 ^avI will hurl you and ^awthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

28 Is this man ^axConiah a despised, broken pot,
a ^ayvessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a ^azland that they do not know?
29 ^baO land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as ^bbchildless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
^bcfor none of his offspring shall succeed
^bdin sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”

Jeremiah 34

Zedekiah to Die in Babylon

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when ^beNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army ^bfand all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^bgZedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^bhBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 3 ^biYou shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. ^bjYou shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’ 4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! ^bkThus says the Lord concerning you: ^bl‘You shall not die by the sword. 5 You shall die in peace. ^bmAnd as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall ^bnburn spices for you ^boand lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the Lord.”

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, ^bpLachish and ^bqAzekah, ^brfor these were the only ^bsfortified cities of Judah that remained.

8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah ^bthad made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem ^buto make a proclamation of liberty to them, 9 ^bvthat everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, ^bwso that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. 10 And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. 11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^bxthey had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. 12 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 13 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^byI brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, 14 ^bz‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^cayou must set him free from your service.’ But ^cbyour fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. 15 You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^ccby proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^cdyou made a covenant before me in the ^cehouse that is called by my name, 16 but then you turned around ^cfand profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^cgwhom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

17 “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^chby proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^cibehold, I proclaim to you liberty ^cjto the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^ckI will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^clthe covenant that they made before me, I will make them like ^{▼▼Hebrew lacks them like} ^cnthe calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— 19 the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^cothe eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. 20 And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^cpand into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^cqTheir dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21 And ^crZedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^cswhich has withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, ^ctI will command, declares the Lord, and will ^cubring them back to this city. ^cvAnd they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^cwI will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^cxwithout inhabitant.”