New Living Translation

King James Bible

A Message for Judah’s Kings

This is what the LORD said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,

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A Warning for Judah's Kings

Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

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‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.

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And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

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This is what the LORD says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!

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Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

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If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.

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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.

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But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the LORD, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”

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But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

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A Message about the Palace

Now this is what the LORD says concerning Judah’s royal palace:
“I love you as much as fruitful Gilead
and the green forests of Lebanon.
But I will turn you into a desert,
with no one living within your walls.

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A Warning about the Palace

For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house 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.

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I will call for wreckers,
who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.
They will tear out all your fine cedar beams
and throw them on the fire.

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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.

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“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD destroy such a great city?’

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And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?

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And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the LORD their God by worshiping other gods.’”
A Message about Jehoahaz

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Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

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Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss.
Instead, weep for the captive king being led away!
For he will never return to see his native land again.

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A Warning about Jehoahaz

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.

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For this is what the LORD says about Jehoahaz,a who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.

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For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

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He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”
A Message about Jehoiakim

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But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

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And the LORD says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim,b
who builds his palace with forced labor.c
He builds injustice into its walls,
for he makes his neighbors work for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor.

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A Warning about Jehoiakim

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

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He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace
with huge rooms and many windows.
I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar
and paint it a lovely red.’

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That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

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But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king!
Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink.
But he was just and right in all his dealings.
That is why God blessed him.

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Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

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He gave justice and help to the poor and needy,
and everything went well for him.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?”
says the LORD.

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He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

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“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty!
You murder the innocent,
oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”

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But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

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Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah:
“The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another,
‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
His subjects will not mourn for him, crying,
‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’

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Therefore thus saith the LORD 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!

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He will be buried like a dead donkey —
dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

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He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

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Weep for your allies in Lebanon.
Shout for them in Bashan.
Search for them in the regions east of the river.d
See, they are all destroyed.
Not one is left to help you.

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Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

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I warned you when you were prosperous,
but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’
You have been that way since childhood —
you simply will not obey me!

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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.

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And now the wind will blow away your allies.
All your friends will be taken away as captives.
Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.

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The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

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It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace
paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon,
but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish —
anguish like that of a woman in labor.

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O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

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A Message for Jehoiachin

“As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachine son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.

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A Warning for Jehoiachin

As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

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I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear — to King Nebuchadnezzarf of Babylon and the mighty Babyloniang army.

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And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

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I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.

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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.

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You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

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But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

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“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar?
Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?

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Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

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O earth, earth, earth!
Listen to this message from the LORD!

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O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

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This is what the LORD says:
‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless.
He is a failure,
for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David
to rule over Judah.’

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Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Parallel

New Living Translation

King James Bible

Jeremiah 22

Jeremiah 22