Jeremiah 22

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,	1 The LORD told me this: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and there deliver this message:
2 And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates.	2 You shall say: Listen to the word of the LORD, king of Judah, who sit on the throne of David, you, your ministers, and your people that enter by these gates!
3 Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgement and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.	3 Thus says the LORD: Do what is right and just. Rescue the victim from the hand of his oppressor. Do not wrong or oppress the resident alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people.	4 If you carry out these commands, kings who succeed to the throne of David will continue to enter the gates of this palace, riding in chariots or mounted on horses, with their ministers, and their people.
5 But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.	5 But if you do not obey these commands, I swear by myself, says the LORD: this palace shall become rubble.
6 For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.	6 For thus says the LORD concerning the palace of the king of Judah: Though you be to me like Gilead, like the peak of Lebanon, I will turn you into a waste, a city uninhabited.
7 And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.	7 Against you I will send destroyers, each with his axe: They shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbor: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?	8 Many people will pass by this city and ask one another: "Why has the LORD done this to so great a city?"
9 And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.	9 And the answer will be given: "Because they have deserted their covenant with the LORD, their God, by worshiping and serving strange gods."
10 Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.	10 Weep not for him who is dead, mourn not for him! Weep rather for him who is going away; never again will he see the land of his birth.
11 For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more:	11 Thus says the LORD concerning Shallum, son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father as king. He has left this place never to return.
12 But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more.	12 Rather, he shall die in the place where they exiled him; this land he shall not see again.
13 Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgement: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.	13 Woe to him who builds his house on wrong, his terraces on injustice; Who works his neighbor without pay, and gives him no wages.
14 Who saith: I will build me a wide house and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.	14 Who says, "I will build myself a spacious house, with airy rooms," Who cuts out windows for it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermillion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?	15 Must you prove your rank among kings by competing with them in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and just, and it went well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?	16 Because he dispensed justice to the weak and the poor, it went well with him. Is this not true knowledge of me? says the LORD.
17 But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.	17 But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except on your own gain, On shedding innocent blood, on practicing oppression and extortion.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my Lord, or, Alas, the noble one.	18 Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament him, "Alas! my brother"; "Alas! sister." They shall not lament him, "Alas, Lord! alas, Majesty!"
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.	19 The burial of an ass shall he be given, dragged forth and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.	20 Scale Lebanon and cry out, in Bashan lift up your voice; Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are crushed.
21 I spoke to thee in thy properity: and thoiu saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.	21 I spoke to you when you were secure, but you answered, "I will not listen." This has been your way from your youth, not to listen to my voice.
22 The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.	22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, your lovers shall go into exile. Surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded because of all your wickedness.
23 Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?	23 You who dwell on Lebanon, who nest in the cedars, How you shall groan when pains come upon you, like the pangs of a woman in travail!
24 As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.	24 As I live, says the LORD, if you, Coniah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, are a signet ring on my right hand, I will snatch you from it.
25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.	25 I will deliver you into the hands of those who seek your life; the hands of those whom you fear; the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans.
26 And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:	26 I will cast you out, you and the mother who bore you, into a different land from the one you were born in; and there you shall die.
27 And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.	27 Neither of them shall come back to the land for which they yearn.
28 Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?	28 Is this man Coniah a vessel despised, to be broken up, an instrument that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants cast out? why thrown into a land they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.	29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD--
30 Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.	30 Thus says the LORD: Write this man down as one childless, who will never thrive in his lifetime! No descendant of his shall achieve a seat on the throne of David as ruler again over Judah.