Yaram'Yahu (Jeremiah) — 22

A Message for Yahudah’s Kings

1 This is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Yahudah. Say to him, 

2 ‘Listen to this message from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, you king of Yahudah, sitting on Daud’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too. 

3 This is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar: 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! 

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

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

A Message about the Palace

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

7 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.

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

9 And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH their 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH by worshiping other nations idols.’”

A Message about Yahuahaz

10 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.

11 For this is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH  Dabar about Yahuahaz, who succeeded his father, King Yusyahu, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return. 

12 He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”

A Message about Yahuiakim

13 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar, “What sorrow awaits Yahuiakim, who builds his palace with forced labor, he builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing, he does not pay them for their labor.

14 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.’

15 But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Yusyahu, also had plenty to eat and drink, but he was just and right in all his dealings, that is why 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH baraked him.

16 He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him, is that not what it means to know me?” says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH.

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

18 Therefore this is what  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar about Yahuiakim, son of King Yusyahu: “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!’

19 He will be buried like a dead donkey, dragged out of Yahushalam and dumped outside the gates!

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

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

22 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.

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

A Message for Yahuiachin

24 “As surely as I live,” says  𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, “I will abandon you, Yahuiachin son of Yahuiakim, king of Yahudah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 

25 I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear, to King Nabuchadnazzar of Babylun and the mighty Babylunian army. 

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

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

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

29 O Arath, Arath, Arath! Listen to this message from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH!

30 This is what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH Dabar, Let the record show that this man Yahuiachin was childless, he is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of Daud to rule over Yahudah.’