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Jeremiah 18-22
Common English Bible
Jeremiah 18-22
Common English Bible
God the potter
18 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! 7 At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I’ll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it. 9 At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom; 10 but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I’ll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it. 11 Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I’m working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions. 12 But they said, “What’s the use! We will follow our own plans and act according to our own willful, evil hearts.”
13 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
Ask among the nations:
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Virgin Israel has done
the most horrible thing.
14 Does the snow on the mountains of Lebanon ever melt entirely
off their rocky cliffs?
Do the cool mountain streams ever dry up?[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten me;
they have offered sacrifices to a lie.
And so they have stumbled along the way,
even along the ancient paths.
They have taken side roads,
not the main roads.[b]
16 They have ruined their country
and brought utter shame on it.
All who pass by are shocked
and shake their heads.
17 Like a strong east wind,
I will scatter them before their enemy.
When disaster strikes them,
I will show them my back,
not my face.
18 Then they said, “Come, let’s unite against Jeremiah, for the priest’s instruction won’t fail, nor will the sage’s counsel, nor the prophet’s word. Come, let’s silence him and pay no attention to his words.”
19 Pay attention to me, Lord;
listen to what my enemies are saying.
20 Should evil be returned for good?
Yet they have set traps for me.
Remember that I stood before you,
begging you to be merciful
and not to punish them.
21 Enough! Let their children starve;
let them die by the sword.
Let their wives be barren widows;
let their men be slaughtered
and their youth struck down in battle.
22 Let screams be heard from their homes
when you suddenly bring armies against them.
They have dug a pit to capture me,
set traps for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, you know
all their sinister plots to kill me.
Don’t overlook their wrongdoing;
don’t cleanse their sin from before you.
May they stumble before you;
when you become angry, do something about them.
Broken beyond repair
19 The Lord proclaims: Go buy a clay jar from a potter in the presence of the elders of the people and the priests. 2 Then go out to the Ben-hinnom Valley at the entrance of the gate called Broken Pots and proclaim there the words I will tell you. 3 Listen to the Lord’s word, you kings of Judah and those of you living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to bring such disaster upon this place that it will shock all who hear of it. 4 They have deserted me and degraded this place into a shrine for other gods, which neither they nor their ancestors nor Judah’s kings have ever known. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 Yes, they have built shrines to Baal, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, although I never commanded or ordered such a thing, nor did it ever cross my mind.
6 So now the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or Ben-hinnom Valley but Carnage Valley. 7 I will foil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place and will have them fall in battle before their enemies, before those who seek their lives. I will give their corpses as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will make this city something that sounds horrible; all who pass by it will be shocked at its pain. 9 And when their enemies lay siege to the city, seeking their lives, they will resort in desperation to eating the flesh of their sons and daughters, and to devouring the flesh of their neighbors.
10 Then you should shatter the clay jar in the sight of the people who are with you, 11 and you should say to them: This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says: Just as one smashes the potter’s piece beyond repair, so I will smash this people and this city. And they will bury the dead in Topheth until there’s no room left. 12 That is what I will do to this place and its residents, declares the Lord: I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and those of Judah’s kings will become as foul as Topheth—all the houses on whose roofs they made offerings to the heavenly force and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
14 When Jeremiah returned from Topheth where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people: 15 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I am about to bring upon this city and its surrounding towns every disaster that I have pronounced against them, because they have been stubborn and wouldn’t obey my words.
20 When the priest Pashhur, Immer’s son, the officer in charge of the Lord’s temple, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words, 2 he beat the prophet and detained him in confinement at the upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from confinement, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has changed your name from Pashhur to Panic Lurks Everywhere. 4 The Lord proclaims: I’m going to strike panic into your heart and into the hearts of your friends. You will watch as they fall in battle to their enemies. I will hand over all Judah to the king of Babylon, who will exile some to Babylon and slaughter others. 5 I will hand over all the wealth of this city, all its goods and valuables, including the treasures of the kings of Judah, to their enemies, who will ransack and pillage and carry it all off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all those in your household, will go into captivity. You will be deported to Babylon where you will die. There you will be buried with all your friends to whom you prophesied falsely.”
Total despair
7 Lord, you enticed me, and I was taken in.
You were too strong for me, and you prevailed.
Now I’m laughed at all the time;
everyone mocks me.
8 Every time I open my mouth, I cry out
and say, “Violence and destruction!”
The Lord’s word has brought me
nothing but insult and injury, constantly.
9 I thought, I’ll forget him;
I’ll no longer speak in his name.
But there’s an intense fire in my heart,
trapped in my bones.
I’m drained trying to contain it;
I’m unable to do it.
10 I hear many whispering—
“Panic Lurks Everywhere!—
proclaim, yes, let’s proclaim it ourselves!”
All my friends are waiting for me to stumble:
“Perhaps he can be enticed.
Then we’ll prevail against him
and get our revenge on him!”
11 But the Lord is with me like a strong defender.
Therefore, my oppressors
will stumble and not prevail.
They will be disgraced by their own failures.
Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 The Lord of heavenly forces tests the righteous
and discerns the heart and the mind.
Let me see your retribution upon them,
for I have committed my case to you.
13 Sing to the Lord,
praise the Lord,
for he has rescued the needy
from the clutches of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day that I was born.
May the day my mother gave birth to me not be blessed.
15 Cursed be the one
who delivered the news to my father,
“You have a son!”—
filling him with joy.
16 May the bearer of that news be like the cities
that the Lord destroyed without mercy.
May he hear screams in the morning,
and the battle cries at noon,
17 because he didn’t kill me in the womb
and let my mother become my grave,
her womb pregnant forever.
18 Why was I ever born
when all I see is suffering and misery,
and my days are filled with shame?
Verdict against king and city
21 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur, Malchiah’s son, and the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah’s son, to him with an appeal: 2 “Speak to the Lord on our behalf because Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar[c] is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform one of his mighty deeds and force him to withdraw from us.”
3 Jeremiah answered them: This is what you should tell Zedekiah: 4 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to turn your own weapons against you, yes, the weapons you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians[d] who have surrounded you! I will round them up in the center of the city. 5 Then I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and strong arm in fierce anger and rage. 6 I will strike down those within this city—both people and animals—and they will die of a terrible plague. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, I will deliver Judah’s King Zedekiah, his servants, and those in this city who have survived plague, war, and famine to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar[e] and to their enemies who seek to do them harm. He will put them to the sword without pity, mercy, or compassion.
8 This is what you should tell this people: The Lord says: I’m setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, and disease. But whoever leaves the city and surrenders to the Babylonians[f] will live; yes, their lives will be spared. 10 I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord; it will be delivered to the king of Babylon, who will set it on fire.
Judah: Hear the Lord’s word
11 House of Judah! This is what the Lord says:
12 House of David! The Lord proclaims:
Begin each morning by administering justice,
rescue from their oppressor
those who have been robbed,
or else my anger will spread like a wildfire,
with no one to put it out,
because of your evil deeds.
13 I am against you,
you who live in the valley,[g]
like a rock of the plain,
declares the Lord,
and who say, “Who will come down to attack us?
Who will breach our fortresses?”
14 I will punish you based on what you have done,
declares the Lord.
I will set your[h] forests on fire;
the flames will engulf
everything around you.[i]
Oracles against the kings
22 The Lord proclaims: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and declare this message: 2 Listen to the Lord’s word, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your attendants, and all those who go through these gates. 3 The Lord proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t spill the blood of the innocent in this place. 4 If you obey this command, then through the gates of this palace will come kings who occupy the throne of David, riding on chariots and horses along with their entourage and subjects. 5 But if you ignore these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this palace will become a ruin. 6 The Lord proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah:
Though you are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,
I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.
7 I will summon destroyers against you,
who will use their weapons
to cut down your finest cedars
and hurl them into the fire.
8 People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: “Why has the Lord treated that great city like this?” 9 And the answer will be, “Because they abandoned the covenant with the Lord their God and worshipped and served other gods.”
10 Don’t weep or lament for the dead king.[j]
Weep instead for the one who has gone away,
for he will never return to see his native soil.
11 This is what the Lord says about Shallum son of Judah’s King Josiah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king but who is now gone from this place: He will never return! 12 He will die where he’s been exiled and never see this land again.
13 How terrible for Jehoiakim, who builds his house with corruption
and his upper chambers with injustice,
working his countrymen for nothing,
refusing to give them their wages.
14 He says, “I’ll build myself a grand palace,
with huge upper chambers,
ornate windows,
cedar paneling,
and rich red decor.”
15 Is this what makes you a king,
having more cedar than anyone else?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and still do what was just and right?
Then it went well for him!
16 He defended the rights of the poor and needy;
then it went well.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you set your eyes and heart
on nothing but unjust gain;
you spill the blood of the innocent;
you practice cruelty;
you oppress your subjects.
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Judah’s King Josiah:
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My brother, my sister!”
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My master, my majesty!”
19 They will give him a donkey’s burial,
dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalem
and dumping him there.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
lift up your voice in Bashan,
cry out from Abarim,
because all your lovers have been ravished.
21 I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure,
but you said, “I won’t listen.”
You have been that way since your youth:
not listening to a word I say.
22 Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind,
your lovers taken off to exile.
Then you will be embarrassed and humiliated
by all your wickedness.
23 You who live in Lebanon,
nestled in cedar,
who will pity you[k]
when you are overcome in pain,
like that of childbirth?
24 As surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah,[l] King Jehoiakim’s son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there. 25 I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.[m] 26 I will banish you and your mother who bore you to a land far from your native soil, and there the two of you will die. 27 You[n] will never return to the land you[o] long to go back to.
28 Is this man Coniah
merely a defiled and broken pottery jar
that no one wants?
Why then have he and his children been hurled out
and cast into an unfamiliar land?
29 Land, land, land,
hear the Lord’s word:
30 The Lord proclaims:
Mark this man as childless;
he will not prosper during his lifetime.
None of his children
will sit on David’s throne
and rule again in Judah.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 Heb uncertain; or be dug up
- Jeremiah 18:15 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 21:2 Heb Nebuchadrezzar
- Jeremiah 21:4 Heb Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 21:7 Heb Nebuchadrezzar
- Jeremiah 21:9 Heb Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 21:13 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 21:14 Or its
- Jeremiah 21:14 Or it
- Jeremiah 22:10 Heb lacks king.
- Jeremiah 22:23 Heb uncertain
- Jeremiah 22:24 Cf Jeconiah in Jer 24:1
- Jeremiah 22:25 Or the Babylonians
- Jeremiah 22:27 Or They
- Jeremiah 22:27 Or they
Jeremiah 18-22
New International Version
Jeremiah 18-22
New International Version
At the Potter’s House
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,(B) Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,(C) torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent(D) and not inflict on it the disaster(E) I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built(F) up and planted, 10 and if it does evil(G) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider(H) the good I had intended to do for it.(I)
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster(J) for you and devising a plan(K) against you. So turn(L) from your evil ways,(M) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’(N) 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.(O) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.(P)’”
13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Inquire among the nations:
Who has ever heard anything like this?(Q)
A most horrible(R) thing has been done
by Virgin(S) Israel.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?[a]
15 Yet my people have forgotten(T) me;
they burn incense(U) to worthless idols,(V)
which made them stumble(W) in their ways,
in the ancient paths.(X)
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.(Y)
16 Their land will be an object of horror(Z)
and of lasting scorn;(AA)
all who pass by will be appalled(AB)
and will shake their heads.(AC)
17 Like a wind(AD) from the east,
I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face(AE)
in the day of their disaster.”
18 They said, “Come, let’s make plans(AF) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest(AG) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,(AH) nor the word from the prophets.(AI) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues(AJ) and pay no attention to anything he says.”
19 Listen to me, Lord;
hear what my accusers(AK) are saying!
20 Should good be repaid with evil?(AL)
Yet they have dug a pit(AM) for me.
Remember that I stood(AN) before you
and spoke in their behalf(AO)
to turn your wrath away from them.
21 So give their children over to famine;(AP)
hand them over to the power of the sword.(AQ)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;(AR)
let their men be put to death,
their young men(AS) slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry(AT) be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit(AU) to capture me
and have hidden snares(AV) for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill(AW) me.
Do not forgive(AX) their crimes
or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.(AY)
19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.(AZ) Take along some of the elders(BA) of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(BB) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings(BC) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster(BD) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.(BE) 4 For they have forsaken(BF) me and made this a place of foreign gods(BG); they have burned incense(BH) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.(BI) 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children(BJ) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.(BK) 6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth(BL) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(BM) but the Valley of Slaughter.(BN)
7 “‘In this place I will ruin[b] the plans(BO) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,(BP) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses(BQ) as food(BR) to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;(BS) all who pass by will be appalled(BT) and will scoff because of all its wounds.(BU) 9 I will make them eat(BV) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies(BW) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’
10 “Then break the jar(BX) while those who go with you are watching, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash(BY) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury(BZ) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses(CA) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled(CB) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs(CC) to all the starry hosts(CD) and poured out drink offerings(CE) to other gods.’”
14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court(CF) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster(CG) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked(CH) and would not listen(CI) to my words.’”
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer,(CJ) the official(CK) in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten(CL) and put in the stocks(CM) at the Upper Gate of Benjamin(CN) at the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name(CO) for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.(CP) 4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes(CQ) you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give(CR) all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry(CS) them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5 I will deliver all the wealth(CT) of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away(CU) as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied(CV) lies.’”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
7 You deceived[c](CW) me, Lord, and I was deceived[d];
you overpowered(CX) me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed(CY) all day long;
everyone mocks(CZ) me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.(DA)
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach(DB) all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”(DC)
his word is in my heart like a fire,(DD)
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;(DE)
indeed, I cannot.
10 I hear many whispering,
“Terror(DF) on every side!
Denounce(DG) him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends(DH)
are waiting for me to slip,(DI) saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail(DJ) over him
and take our revenge(DK) on him.”
11 But the Lord(DL) is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors(DM) will stumble and not prevail.(DN)
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;(DO)
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,(DP)
let me see your vengeance(DQ) on them,
for to you I have committed(DR) my cause.
13 Sing(DS) to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues(DT) the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.(DU)
14 Cursed be the day I was born!(DV)
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
“A child is born to you—a son!”
16 May that man be like the towns(DW)
the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing(DX) in the morning,
a battle cry at noon.
17 For he did not kill me in the womb,(DY)
with my mother as my grave,
her womb enlarged forever.
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb(DZ)
to see trouble(EA) and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?(EB)
God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request
21 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah(EC) sent to him Pashhur(ED) son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah(EE) son of Maaseiah. They said: 2 “Inquire(EF) now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar[e](EG) king of Babylon(EH) is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders(EI) for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.”
3 But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, 4 ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn(EJ) against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians[f] who are outside the wall besieging(EK) you. And I will gather them inside this city. 5 I myself will fight(EL) against you with an outstretched hand(EM) and a mighty arm(EN) in furious anger and in great wrath. 6 I will strike(EO) down those who live in this city—both man and beast—and they will die of a terrible plague.(EP) 7 After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah(EQ) king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague,(ER) sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon(ES) and to their enemies(ET) who want to kill them.(EU) He will put them to the sword;(EV) he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’(EW)
8 “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life(EX) and the way of death. 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague.(EY) But whoever goes out and surrenders(EZ) to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives.(FA) 10 I have determined to do this city harm(FB) and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands(FC) of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’(FD)
11 “Moreover, say to the royal house(FE) of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord. 12 This is what the Lord says to you, house of David:
“‘Administer justice(FF) every morning;
rescue from the hand of the oppressor(FG)
the one who has been robbed,
or my wrath will break out and burn like fire(FH)
because of the evil(FI) you have done—
burn with no one to quench(FJ) it.
13 I am against(FK) you, Jerusalem,
you who live above this valley(FL)
on the rocky plateau, declares the Lord—
you who say, “Who can come against us?
Who can enter our refuge?”(FM)
14 I will punish you as your deeds(FN) deserve,
declares the Lord.
I will kindle a fire(FO) in your forests(FP)
that will consume everything around you.’”
Judgment Against Wicked Kings
22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king(FQ) of Judah and proclaim this message there: 2 ‘Hear(FR) the word of the Lord to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne(FS)—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.(FT) 3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is just(FU) and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor(FV) the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow,(FW) and do not shed innocent blood(FX) in this place. 4 For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings(FY) who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5 But if you do not obey(FZ) these commands, declares the Lord, I swear(GA) by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”
6 For this is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah:
“Though you are like Gilead(GB) to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,(GC)
I will surely make you like a wasteland,(GD)
like towns not inhabited.
7 I will send destroyers(GE) against you,
each man with his weapons,
and they will cut(GF) up your fine cedar beams
and throw them into the fire.(GG)
8 “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’(GH) 9 And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served other gods.(GI)’”
10 Do not weep for the dead(GJ) king or mourn(GK) his loss;
rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return(GL)
nor see his native land again.
11 For this is what the Lord says about Shallum[g](GM) son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return. 12 He will die(GN) in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”
13 “Woe(GO) to him who builds(GP) his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
not paying(GQ) them for their labor.
14 He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace(GR)
with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
panels it with cedar(GS)
and decorates it in red.(GT)
15 “Does it make you a king
to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
He did what was right and just,(GU)
so all went well(GV) with him.
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,(GW)
and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know(GX) me?”
declares the Lord.
17 “But your eyes and your heart
are set only on dishonest gain,(GY)
on shedding innocent blood(GZ)
and on oppression and extortion.”(HA)
18 Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:
“They will not mourn(HB) for him:
‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
19 He will have the burial(HC) of a donkey—
dragged away and thrown(HD)
outside the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,(HE)
let your voice be heard in Bashan,(HF)
cry out from Abarim,(HG)
for all your allies(HH) are crushed.
21 I warned you when you felt secure,(HI)
but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;(HJ)
you have not obeyed(HK) me.
22 The wind(HL) will drive all your shepherds(HM) away,
and your allies(HN) will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced(HO)
because of all your wickedness.
23 You who live in ‘Lebanon,[h](HP)’
who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
pain(HQ) like that of a woman in labor!
24 “As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin[i](HR) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring(HS) on my right hand, I would still pull you off. 25 I will deliver(HT) you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.[j] 26 I will hurl(HU) you and the mother(HV) who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. 27 You will never come back to the land you long to return(HW) to.”
28 Is this man Jehoiachin(HX) a despised, broken pot,(HY)
an object no one wants?
Why will he and his children be hurled(HZ) out,
cast into a land(IA) they do not know?
29 O land,(IB) land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 This is what the Lord says:
“Record this man as if childless,(IC)
a man who will not prosper(ID) in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring(IE) will prosper,
none will sit on the throne(IF) of David
or rule anymore in Judah.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10).
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
- Jeremiah 21:2 Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, of which Nebuchadnezzar is a variant; here and often in Jeremiah and Ezekiel
- Jeremiah 21:4 Or Chaldeans; also in verse 9
- Jeremiah 22:11 Also called Jehoahaz
- Jeremiah 22:23 That is, the palace in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 7:2)
- Jeremiah 22:24 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin; also in verse 28
- Jeremiah 22:25 Or Chaldeans
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.