Jeremiah 22:14-24

14 Which saith, I shall build to me a large house, and wide solars; which openeth windows to himself, and maketh couples of cedar, and painteth with red colour. (Who saith, I shall build for myself a large house with wide rooms; and I shall cut out windows for it, and make couplings out of cedar, and paint it with red colour.)

15 Whether thou shalt reign, for thou comparisonest thee to a cedar? whether thy father ate not, and drank, and did doom and rightfulness then, when it was well to him? (Shalt thou reign, because thy cedar is finer in comparison to others? did not thy father eat, and drink, and did justly and with righteousness, and was it not well with him?)

16 He deemed the cause of a poor man, and needy, into his good; whether not therefore for he knew me? saith the Lord. (He judged the cases of the poor and the needy, for their good; did this not show that he knew me? saith the Lord.)

17 Forsooth thine eyes and heart be to avarice, and to shed innocent blood, and to false challenge, and to the performing of evil work. (But thine eyes and thy heart be turned to greed, and to pour out innocent blood, and to oppression, and to the performing of evil work.)

18 Therefore the Lord saith these things to Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, They shall not bewail him, (and say,) Woe brother! and woe sister! they shall not sound together to him (and say,) Woe lord! and woe noble man! (And so the Lord saith these things about Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, They shall not bewail him, and say, Woe brother! and woe sister! they shall not sound together for him, and say, Woe lord! and woe noble man!)

19 He shall be buried with the burying of an ass, he shall be rotten, and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem. (He shall be buried like the burying of a donkey, yea, he shall be rotten, and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.)

20 Ascend thou on the Lebanon, and cry thou, and give thy voice in Bashan, and cry to them that pass forth, for all thy lovers be all-broken. (Go thou up to Lebanon, and cry thou, and give thy voice in Bashan, and cry to those who pass forth, for all thy allies be all-broken.)

21 I spake to thee in thy plenty, and thou saidest, I shall not hear (I will not listen to thee); this is thy way from thy youth, for thou heardest not my voice.

22 Wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; (The wind shall carry away all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; and then thou shalt be shamed, and ashamed for all thy malice,)

23 and then thou that sittest in the Lebanon, and makest (thy) nest in cedars, shalt be shamed, and ashamed of all thy malice. How wailedest thou, when sorrows were come to thee, as the sorrow of a woman travailing of child? (thou who sittest in Lebanon, and makest thy nest in cedars. How thou shalt wail, when sorrows shall come to thee, like the sorrow of a woman in labour!)

24 I live, saith the Lord, for thou Jeconiah , the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were (as) a ring in my right hand, from thence I shall draw away him. (As I live, saith the Lord, for thou Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were the ring on my right hand, but now I shall draw thee away from there.)

Jeremiah 22:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 22

This chapter is a prophecy of what should befall the sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz or Shallum; Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. It begins with an exhortation to the then reigning prince, Jehoiakim, his family and court, to do justice, relieve the oppressed, and refrain from doing injury to any; with a promise of prosperity upon so doing, Jer 22:1-4; but, on the contrary behaviour, the king's family, however precious they had been in the sight of the Lord, should be destroyed, by persons described as fit for such work, which would occasion others to inquire the cause of such destruction; when it would be told them, it was for their apostasy from the Lord, their breaking covenant with him, and their idolatry, Jer 22:5-9; then of Shallum, who was then carried captive, it is predicted that he should never return more, which was matter of greater lamentation than the death of his father Josiah, Jer 22:10-12; next Jehoiakim, the present king on the throne, is reproved, and a woe denounced upon him for his injustice, luxury, covetousness, rapine, and murders, Jer 22:13-17; and it is particularly threatened that he should die unlamented, and have no burial, Jer 22:18,19; and then the people of the land are called upon to mourning and lamentation, their kings one after another being carried captive, Jer 22:20-23; also Jeconiah the king's son, and who succeeded him, is threatened with rejection from the Lord, and a delivery of him up into the hand of the king of Babylon, with exile in a strange country, and death there, and that without children; so that Solomon's line should cease in him, Jer 22:24-30.