Jeremiah:22-24

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* Thus said the LORD : Go down to the house of the king of Judah , and speak there this word , * 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 . * Thus saith the LORD : Execute ye justice 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 . * 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 . * But if ye will not hear these words , I swear by Myself , saith the LORD , that this house shall become a desolation . * For thus saith the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah : Thou art Gilead unto Me , the head of Lebanon ; yet surely I will make thee a wilderness , cities which are not inhabited . * 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 . * 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 ?' * Then they shall answer : 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God , and worshipped other gods , and served them .' * 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 . * For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah , king of Judah , who reigned instead of Josiah his father , and who went forth out of this place : He shall not return thither any more ; * but in the place whither they have led him captive , there shall he die , and he shall see this land no more . * Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness , and his chambers by injustice ; that useth his neighbour 's service without wages , and giveth him not his hire ; * That saith : 'I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers ', and cutteth him out windows , and it is ceiled with cedar , and painted with vermilion . * Shalt thou reign , because thou strivest to excel in cedar ? Did not thy father eat and drink , and do justice and righteousness ? Then it was well with him . * He judged the cause of the poor and needy ; then it was well . Is not this to know Me ? saith the LORD . * But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness , and for shedding innocent blood , and for oppression , and for violence , to do it . * Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah , king of Judah : They shall not lament for him : 'Ah my brother !' or : 'Ah sister !' They shall not lament for him : 'Ah lord !' or : 'Ah his glory !' * He shall be buried with the burial of an ass , drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem . * Go up to Lebanon , and cry , and lift up thy voice in Bashan ; and cry from Abarim , for all thy lovers are destroyed . * I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity , but thou saidst : 'I will not hear .' This hath been thy manner from thy youth , that thou hearkenedst not to My voice . * The wind shall feed upon all thy shepherds , and thy lovers shall go into captivity ; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness . * O inhabitant of Lebanon , that art nestled in the cedars , how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee , the pain as of a woman in travail ! * 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 ; * and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life , and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid , even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon , and into the hand of the Chaldeans . * And I will cast thee out , and thy mother that bore thee , into another country , where ye were not born ; and there shall ye die . * But to the land whereunto they long to return , thither shall they not return . * Is this man Coniah a despised , broken image ? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure ? Wherefore are they cast out , he and his seed , and are cast into the land which they know not ? * O land , land , land , hear the word of the LORD . * 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 . * Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture ! saith the LORD . * Therefore thus saith the LORD , the God of Israel , against the shepherds that feed My people : Ye have scattered My flock , and driven them away , and have not taken care of them ; behold , I will visit upon you the evil of your doings , saith the LORD . * And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them , and will bring them back to their folds ; and they shall be fruitful and multiply . * And I will set up shepherds over them , who shall feed them ; and they shall fear no more , nor be dismayed , neither shall any be lacking , saith the LORD . * Behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot , and he shall reign as king and prosper , and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land . * In his days Judah shall be saved , and Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is his name whereby he shall be called , The LORD is our righteousness . * Therefore , behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that they shall no more say : 'As the LORD liveth , that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt '; * but : 'As the LORD liveth , that brought up and that led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country , and from all the countries whither I had driven them '; and they shall dwell in their own land . * Concerning the prophets . My heart within me is broken , all my bones shake ; I am like a drunken man , and like a man whom wine hath overcome ; because of the LORD , and because of His holy words . * For the land is full of adulterers ; for because of swearing the land mourneth , the pastures of the wilderness are dried up ; and their course is evil , and their force is not right . * For both prophet and priest are ungodly ; yea , in My house have I found their wickedness , saith the LORD . * Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness , they shall be thrust , and fall therein ; for I will bring evil upon them , even the year of their visitation , saith the LORD . * And I have seen unseemliness in the prophets of Samaria : they prophesied by Baal , and caused My people Israel to err . * But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing : they commit adultery , and walk in lies , and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers , that none doth return from his wickedness ; they are all of them become unto Me as Sodom , and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah . * Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets : Behold , I will feed them with wormwood , and make them drink the water of gall ; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts : Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you , they lead you unto vanity ; they speak a vision of their own heart , and not out of the mouth of the LORD . * They say continually unto them that despise Me : 'The LORD hath said : Ye shall have peace '; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say : 'No evil shall come upon you '; * For who hath stood in the council of the LORD , that he should perceive and hear His word ? Who hath attended to His word , and heard it ? * Behold , a storm of the LORD is gone forth in fury , yea , a whirling storm ; it shall whirl upon the head of the wicked . * The anger of the LORD shall not return , until He have executed , and till He have performed the purposes of His heart ; in the end of days ye shall consider it perfectly . * I have not sent these prophets , yet they ran ; I have not spoken to them , yet they prophesied . * But if they have stood in My council , then let them cause My people to hear My words , and turn them from their evil way , and from the evil of their doings . * Am I a God near at hand , saith the LORD , and not a God afar off ? * Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? saith the LORD . Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the LORD . * I have heard what the prophets have said , that prophesy lies in My name , saying : 'I have dreamed , I have dreamed .' * How long shall this be ? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies , and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart ? * That think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour , as their fathers forgot My name for Baal . * The prophet that hath a dream , let him tell a dream ; and he that hath My word ; let him speak My word faithfully . What hath the straw to do with the wheat ? saith the LORD . * Is not My word like as fire ? saith the LORD ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ? * Therefore , behold , I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that steal My words every one from his neighbour . * Behold , I am against the prophets , saith the LORD , that use their tongues and say : 'He saith .' * Behold , I am against them that prophesy lying dreams , saith the LORD , and do tell them , and cause My people to err by their lies , and by their wantonness ; yet I sent them not , nor commanded them ; neither can they profit this people at all , saith the LORD . * And when this people , or the prophet , or a priest , shall ask thee , saying : 'What is the burden of the LORD ?' then shalt thou say unto them : 'What burden ! I will cast you off , saith the LORD .' * And as for the prophet , and the priest , and the people , that shall say : 'The burden of the LORD ', I will even punish that man and his house . * Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour , and every one to his brother : 'What hath the LORD answered ?' and : 'What hath the LORD spoken ?' * And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more ; for every man 's own word shall be his burden ; and would ye pervert the words of the living God , of the LORD of hosts our God ? * Thus shalt thou say to the prophet : 'What hath the LORD answered thee ?' and : 'What hath the LORD spoken ?' * But if ye say : 'The burden of the LORD '; therefore thus saith the LORD : Because ye say this word : 'The burden of the LORD ', and I have sent unto you , saying : 'Ye shall not say : The burden of the LORD '; * therefore , behold , I will utterly tear you out , and I will cast you off , and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers , away from My presence ; * and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you , and a perpetual shame , which shall not be forgotten . * The LORD showed me , and behold two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD ; after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim , king of Judah , and the princes of Judah , with the craftsmen and smiths , from Jerusalem , and had brought them to Babylon . * One basket had very good figs , like the figs that are first-ripe ; and the other basket had very bad figs , which could not be eaten , they were so bad . * Then said the LORD unto me : 'What seest thou , Jeremiah ?' And I said : 'Figs ; the good figs , very good ; and the bad , very bad , that cannot be eaten , they are so bad .' * And the word of the LORD came unto me , saying : * 'Thus saith the LORD , the God of Israel : Like these good figs , so will I regard the captives of Judah , whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans , for good . * And I will set Mine eyes upon them for good , and I will bring them back to this land ; and I will build them , and not pull them down ; and I will plant them , and not pluck them up . * And I will give them a heart to know Me , that I am the LORD ; and they shall be My people , and I will be their God ; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart . * And as the bad figs , which cannot be eaten , they are so bad ; surely thus saith the LORD : So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah , and his princes , and the residue of Jerusalem , that remain in this land , and them that dwell in the land of Egypt ; * I will even make them a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil ; a reproach and a proverb , a taunt and a curse , in all places whither I shall drive them . * And I will send the sword , the famine , and the pestilence , among them , till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers .' * The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah , king of Judah , that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon ;

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