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Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

Jeremiah 22


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1Yahweh said this, 'Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and there say this word,2"Listen to the word of Yahweh, king of Judah now occupying the throne of David, you, your officials andyour people who go through these gates.3Yahweh says this: Act uprightly and justly; rescue from the hands of the oppressor anyone who hasbeen wronged, do not exploit or il -treat the stranger, the orphan, the widow; shed no innocent blood in thisplace.4For if you are scrupulous in obeying this command, then kings occupying the throne of David willcontinue to make their entry through the gates of this palace riding in chariots or on horseback, they, theirofficials and their people.5But if you do not listen to these words, then I swear by myself, Yahweh declares, this palace shalbecome a ruin!6"Yes, this is what Yahweh says about the palace of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to me, like apeak of Lebanon. Al the same, I wil reduce you to a desert, to uninhabited towns.7I dedicate men to destroy you, each man with his weapons; they will cut down your finest cedars andthrow them on the fire.8"And when many nations pass this city, they wil say to one another: Why has Yahweh treated thisgreat city like this?9And the answer wil be: Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God to worship othergods and serve them." '10Do not weep for the man who is dead, do not raise the dirge for him. Weep rather for the one who hasgone away, since he wil never come back, never see his native land again.11For this is what Yahweh has said about Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded Josiahhis father and was forced to leave this place, 'He wil never come back to it12but wil die in the place to which he has been taken captive; and he wil never see this country again.13'Disaster for the man who builds his house without uprightness, his upstairs rooms without fairjudgement, who makes his fel ow-man work for nothing, without paying him his wages,14who says, "I shal build myself a spacious palace with airy upstairs rooms," who makes windows in it,panels it with cedar, and paints it vermilion.15Are you more of a king because of your passion for cedar? Did your father go hungry or thirsty? Buthe did what is just and upright, so al went wel for him.16He used to examine the cases of poor and needy, then al went wel . Is not that what it means to knowme? Yahweh demands.17You on the other hand have eyes and heart for nothing but your own interests, for shedding innocentblood and perpetrating violence and oppression.'18That is why Yahweh says this about Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: 'No lamenting for him,"My poor brother! My poor sister!" No lamenting for him, "His poor lordship! His poor majesty!"19He wil have a donkey's funeral -- dragged away and thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem.'20'Climb the Lebanon range and shriek, raise your voice in Bashan, shriek from the Abarim, for al yourlovers have been ruined!21I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, "I wil not listen!" From your youth this has been howyou behaved, refusing to listen to my voice.22The wind will shepherd al your shepherds away and your lovers wil go into captivity. Then you wilblush deep with shame at the thought of al your wickedness.23You who have made the Lebanon your home and made your nest among the cedars, how you wilgroan when anguish overtakes you, pangs like those of a woman in labour!24'As I live, Yahweh declares, even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring onmy right hand, I would stil wrench you off!25I shal hand you over to those determined to kill you, to those you dread, to Nebuchadnezzar king ofBabylon, to the Chaldaeans.26I shal hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country; you were not born there but youwil both die there.27They wil not return to the country to which they desperately long to return.'28Is he a shoddy broken pot, this man Coniah, a crock that no one wants? Why are he and his offspringejected, hurled into a country they know nothing of?29O land, land, land, listen to the word of Yahweh!30Yahweh says this, 'List this man as: Childless; a man who made a failure of his life, since none of hisoffspring wil succeed in occupying the throne of David, or ruling in Judah again.'