Jeremiah 22:1-9 ▼

1 This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word,

2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

3 This is what the LORD says: “Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you will indeed perform this instruction, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people.

5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the LORD, “that this house will become a place of ruins.”’”

6 For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most assuredly I will make you a wilderness, Cities that are not inhabited.

7 “For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.

8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’

9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’”