Jeremiah 22:1-7

1 Thus says Yahweh: "Go down [to] the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there.

2 And you must say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter through these gates.

3 Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

4 And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

5 But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself," {declares} Yahweh, "that this house will become a site of ruins." '"

6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah, "You [are like] Gilead to me, [like] the head of the Lebanon. {Surely} I will make you a desert, [like] cities [that] are not inhabited.

7 And I will consecrate against you destroyers, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down {your choicest cedars}, and cast [them] on the fire.

Jeremiah 22:1-7 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "chariot"
• [b]. Literally "a declaration of"
• [c]. Literally "the choicest thing of your cedars"
• [d]. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation