Jeremiah 22:8-18

8 "People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other, 'Why has the LORD done this to this important city?'

9 The answer will be: 'They rejected the promise of the LORD their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.'"

10 Don't cry for the dead. Don't shake your heads at them. Cry bitterly for those who are taken away, because they won't come back to see their homeland.

11 This is what the LORD says about King Josiah's son Shallum, who succeeded his father as king of Judah and left this place: He will never come back here again.

12 He will die in the place where he was taken captive, and he will never see this land again.

13 "How horrible it will be for the person who builds his house dishonestly and his upper rooms through injustice. He makes his neighbors work for nothing and doesn't pay them for their work.

14 He says, 'I will build a large house for myself with big upper rooms.' He cuts out windows in it, panels the rooms with cedar, and paints them red.

15 Do you think you're a better king than others because you use more cedar? Your father ate and drank and did what is fair and right. Everything went well for him.

16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy. Everything went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me?" asks the LORD.

17 "But your eyes and your mind are set on nothing but dishonest profits. You kill innocent people and violently oppress your people."

18 This is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim, son of Judah's King Josiah: People won't mourn for him and say, "How horrible it is for my brother and sister!" They won't mourn for him and say, "How horrible it is for my master and his splendor!"

Jeremiah 22:8-18 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.