English · ASV

Jeremiah 22

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

A Call to Justice for the King 1–9

1
Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, ​
2
and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, 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 Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, 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 Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation. ​
6
For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king 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 neighbor, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?
9
Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

Judgment on King Shallum (Jehoahaz) 10–12

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 Jehovah touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more; ​
12
but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.

Condemnation of King Jehoiakim 13–19

13
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not his hire; ​
14
that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15
Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him. ​
16
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah. ​
17
But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18
Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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. ​

Jerusalem's Reliance on False Allies 20–23

20
Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed. ​
21
I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; 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 feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. ​
23
O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

Oracle Against King Coniah (Jehoiachin) 24–30

24
As I live, saith Jehovah, 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 of whom thou art afraid, 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 their soul longeth to return, thither shall they not return.
28
Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein none delighteth? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not? ​
29
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah. ​
30
Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 22

Verse 1

Go down to the house of the king of Judah — The word continues Jer 21:11, 'touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD', and 21:12, 'O house of David'. The prophet is sent into the palace itself, as later to Zedekiah (Jer 34:2). Vv.10–30 name three kings: Shallum, Jehoiakim and Coniah.

Verse 3

Execute ye judgment and righteousness — Mishpat and tsedaqah, the pair that returns in v.15 as 'judgment and justice'. 'Do no wrong' is yanah, the verb of Ex 22:21, 'Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him'. The 'stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow' are those the law named (Ex 22:21–22), and 'innocent blood' is the charge of v.17.

Verse 4

kings sitting upon the throne of David — The promise is conditional: 'if ye do this thing indeed'. The same blessing is offered in Jer 17:25, 'kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses', and with the same condition. The throne's future depends on the doing of judgment (v.3).

Verse 5

I swear by myself — The LORD swears by himself, as he did to Abraham: 'By myself have I sworn' (Gen 22:16; Heb 6:13). Here the oath carries a warning, not a promise: 'this house shall become a desolation' (chorbah, a ruin).

Verse 6

Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon — Gilead is the land of balm (Jer 8:22), and Lebanon the land of cedar, as in Solomon's 'house of the forest of Lebanon' (1 Kgs 7:2). The royal house was precious to the LORD, 'yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.'

Verse 10

Weep ye not for the dead — Josiah was promised a grave 'in peace' (2 Kgs 22:20). The one to weep for is 'him that goeth away': Shallum (v.11), who 'shall return no more, nor see his native country'. Moledeth is the land of one's birth, and that is the loss.

Verse 11

Shallum the son of Josiah — Shallum is a name of Josiah's fourth son (1 Chr 3:15), who 'reigned instead of Josiah his father' for three months (2 Kgs 23:31) as Jehoahaz. Pharaoh Necho put him in bands, 'took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there' (2 Kgs 23:33–34). 'He shall not return thither any more.'

Verse 13

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness — Hoy, 'woe', is the cry of mourning, and in v.18 it is the funeral lament, 'Ah'. The sin is unpaid labour: 'his neighbour's service without wages'. The law said, 'Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant… At his day thou shalt give him his hire' (Deut 24:14–15; Lev 19:13). Compare James 5:4.

Verse 15

did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice — The father is Josiah. 'Judgment and justice' are the mishpat and tsedaqah of v.3, 'judgment and righteousness'. 'Closest thyself in cedar' is a verb Strong's glosses 'to vie with a rival' (v.14 describes the house 'cieled with cedar'); of Josiah, 'like unto him was there no king before him' (2 Kgs 23:25).

Verse 16

was not this to know me? — Knowing the LORD (da'at) is defined by the deed: he 'judged the cause of the poor and needy' (ani, ebyon). Jer 9:24 praises the one who 'understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness'. John: 'hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments' (1 John 2:3).

Verse 18

Ah my brother! — Hoy, the 'woe' of v.13, is also the cry of mourning, as in 'Alas, my brother!' over the man of God (1 Kgs 13:30). Four cries are named: 'my brother', 'sister', 'lord' and 'his glory' (hod, majesty). None of them will be raised for Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of v.15.

Verse 19

the burial of an ass — He is 'drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem', outside the city rather than in a royal tomb. Jer 36:30 puts it in the same terms: 'his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost'. Shalak, 'cast forth', is the verb used again of Coniah in v.28.

Verse 20

all thy lovers are destroyed — Lebanon, Bashan and 'the passages' (ha-abarim, the range of Num 27:12) are heights on the land's northern and eastern edges. 'Lovers' (ahab) are the allies Judah trusted; Lam 1:2 uses the word of Zion, 'among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her'. 'Destroyed' is shabar, broken.

Verse 22

The wind shall eat up all thy pastors — Ra'ah, the shepherd's verb, is used twice: 'the wind shall feed (ra'ah) all thy shepherds'. The 'pastors' are the rulers of Jer 23:1, 'Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!' Their 'lovers' (v.20) go into captivity, and Judah is 'ashamed and confounded' (bosh, kalam).

Verse 24

the signet upon my right hand — Chotam, a seal ring that makes the owner's mark, worn on 'my right hand'. Coniah (Jeconiah, Jehoiachin) reigned three months and was carried to Babylon (2 Kgs 24:8, 15). The LORD would 'pluck' him off; in Hag 2:23 the signet returns on Zerubbabel, 'my servant', Jechonias's grandson (Matt 1:12).

Verse 25

Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon — The hand named is Nebuchadrezzar's and the Chaldeans', 'them that seek thy life… whose face thou fearest' (yagor, to dread). It is fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar 'carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers' (2 Kgs 24:15).

Verse 28

a despised broken idol… a vessel wherein is no pleasure — Bazah, to despise, and nephats, to dash in pieces; the 'idol' is etseb, a vessel of clay. 'A vessel wherein is no pleasure' is used of Israel among the Gentiles (Hos 8:8). 'Cast out' is shalak, as in the burial of v.19, 'into a land which they know not'.

Verse 29

O earth, earth, earth — This is the only place in the KJV with 'earth, earth, earth'. The earth is called as witness, as in Deut 32:1, 'hear, O earth, the words of my mouth', and Isa 1:2, 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken'. What follows is the sentence on Coniah's line (v.30).

Verse 30

Write ye this man childless — Ariri is destitute of children; but Jeconiah did have sons (1 Chr 3:17), so the explanation follows: 'no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David'. None of his seed reigned again: the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his stead, renamed Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24:17).