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Judgment Against Wicked Kings
22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of
the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
22:2 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:
22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment 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.
22:4 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.
22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by
myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a
desolation.
22:6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of
Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet
surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are
not inhabited.
22:7 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.
22:8 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?
22:9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the
covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods,
and served them.
22:10 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.
22:11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of
Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his
father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not
return thither any more:
22:12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led
him captive, and shall see this land no more.
22:13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by
unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his
neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for
his work;
22:14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large
chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with
cedar, and painted with vermilion.
22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in
cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and
justice, and then it was well with him?
22:16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it
was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy
covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
oppression, and for violence, to do it.
22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim
the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for
him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not
lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn
and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
22:20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in
Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are
destroyed.
22:21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst,
I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth,
that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers
shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed
and confounded for all thy wickedness.
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the
cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon
thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
22:24 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;
22:25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek
thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest,
even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare
thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and
there shall ye die.
22:27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return,
thither shall they not return.
22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a
vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out,
he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know
not?
22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
22:30 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. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
