Jeremiah

CHAPTER 22

Though you be to me like Gilead,

like the peak of Lebanon,

I swear I shall turn you into a waste,

with cities uninhabited.

each with their tools:

They shall cut down your choice cedars,

and cast them into the fire.^c

Jehoahaz

nor mourn for him!

Weep rather for him who is going away;

never again to see

the land of his birth.^f

Jehoiakim

his roof-chambers on injustice;

Who works his neighbors without pay,^*

and gives them no wages.^g

with airy rooms,”

Who cuts out windows for it,

panels it with cedar,

and paints it with vermilion.

by competing with them in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink,

And act justly and righteously?

Then he prospered.^h

he prospered.

Is this not to know me?—

oracle of the LORD.ⁱ

except your own gain,

On shedding innocent blood

and practicing oppression and extortion.^j

They shall not lament him,

“Alas! my brother”; “Alas! sister.”^*

They shall not lament him,

“Alas, Lord! alas, Majesty!”^k

dragged forth and cast out

beyond the gates of Jerusalem.^l

Jeconiah

in Bashan lift up your voice;

Cry out from Abarim,

for all your lovers are crushed.^m

but you answered, “I will not listen.”

This has been your way from your youth,

not to listen to my voice.

your lovers shall go into exile.

Surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded

because of all your wickedness.

who nest in the cedars,

How you shall groan when pains come upon you,

like the pangs of a woman in childbirth!

a vessel that no one wants?

Why are he and his offspring cast out?

why thrown into a land they do not know?

hear the word of the LORD—

^r Write this man down as childless,^*

a man who will never prosper in his life!

Nor shall any of his descendants prosper,

to sit upon the throne of David,

to rule again over Judah.

* [22:10] Him who is dead: Josiah. His successor, Jehoahaz, was deported by Pharaoh Neco to Egypt, where he died (2 Kgs 23:33–34).

* [22:11] Shallum: i.e., Jehoahaz; cf. 1 Chr 3:15. This may have been his name at birth, in which case Jehoahaz would have been his throne name.

* [22:13] Without pay: either by forced labor in public works, or by defrauding the workers. Despite the impoverishment caused in Judah by the payment of foreign tribute, Jehoiakim embarked on a building program in Jerusalem (v. 14); cedar was an expensive building material which had to be imported. Social injustice is the cause of much of the prophetic condemnation of the kings (v. 17).

* [22:15–16] The rule of Josiah, Jehoiakim’s father, shows that authentic kingship is rooted in knowledge of the Lord and creates a society in which the most disadvantaged can expect and receive justice.

* [22:18] “Alas! my brother”; “Alas! sister”: customary cries of mourning.

* [22:19] The burial of a donkey: no burial at all, except to be cast outside the city as refuse. This prophecy describes the popular feeling toward Jehoiakim rather than the actual circumstances of his burial. According to 2 Kgs 24:5 he was buried with his ancestors in Jerusalem.

* [22:20–23] The prophet first bids Jerusalem to scale Lebanon, Bashan, and Abarim, i.e., the highest surrounding mountains to the north, northeast, and southeast, and gaze on the ruin of its lovers, i.e., the false leaders of Judah, called its shepherds (v. 22); cf. 2:8. Jerusalem still stands (v. 23), apparently as secure as the heights of Lebanon, but destruction is to follow (cf. v. 6).

* [22:24] Coniah: a shortened form of Jeconiah, the name Jeremiah gives King Jehoiachin (cf. 24:1). A signet ring: the seal used by kings and other powerful figures—a symbol of their power and status—mounted in a ring worn constantly on the hand. The Lord says that even were Jehoiachin such a precious possession, he would reject him. Hg 2:23 uses the same imagery to signal the restoration of Zerubbabel. The words in Jer 22:24–30 date from the short three-month reign of Jehoiachin, before he was deported by Nebuchadnezzar.

* [22:26] You and the mother who bore you: the queen mother held a special position in the monarchy of Judah, and in the Books of Kings she is invariably mentioned by name along with the king (1 Kgs 15:2; 2 Kgs 18:2). Jehoiachin did indeed die in Babylon.

* [22:30] Childless: Jehoiachin is considered childless because none of his seven sons became king. His grandson Zerubbabel presided for a time over the Judahite community after the return from exile, but not as king. According to Ezekiel, whose oracles are dated by Jehoiachin’s fictitious regnal years, the people expected Jehoiachin to return. Jeremiah’s prophecy dispels this hope, despite the words of Hananiah (28:4).

a. [22:2] Jer 17:20.

b. [22:3] Jer 21:12; Ex 22:21–24; Dt 24:17.

c. [22:7] Jer 21:14.

d. [22:8] Dt 29:24–27.

e. [22:9] Jer 19:4; 40:2–3.

f. [22:10] 2 Chr 35:23–25.

g. [22:13] Lv 19:13; Dt 24:14; Hb 2:9, 12.

h. [22:15] 2 Sm 5:11; 7:2; 2 Kgs 23:25.

i. [22:16] Prv 31:9.

j. [22:17] Ez 22:13, 27.

k. [22:18] Jer 16:4–7; 1 Kgs 13:30.

l. [22:19] Jer 36:30.

m. [22:20] Jer 30:14–15; Dt 32:49.

n. [22:24] Hg 2:23.

o. [22:25] Jer 21:7; 34:20.

p. [22:26] 2 Kgs 24:15.

q. [22:27] Jer 44:14.

r. [22:30] Jer 36:30; 1 Chr 3:16–17; Mt 1:12.