He exhorts to repentance, with promises and threats, 1-9. The judgment of Shallum, 10-12; of Jehoiakim, 13-19; and of Coniah, 20-30.
1 Thus says the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there, 2 And say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David—you, your servants, and your people who enter by these gates. 3 Thus says the LORD: "Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver him who is laid waste 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. 4 For if you do this thing indeed, then there shall enter by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses—he, his servants, and his people. 5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself," says the LORD, "that this house shall become a desolation."'"
6 For thus says the LORD to the king's house of Judah:
"You are Gilead to me,/
and the head of Lebanon./
Yet surely I will make you a wilderness/
and cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will prepare destroyers against you,/
each with his weapons,/
and they shall cut down your choice cedars/
and cast them into the fire.
8 "And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall each say to his neighbor, 'Why has the LORD done so to this great city?' 9 Then they shall answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them.'"
10 Do not weep for the dead,/
neither bemoan him,/
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,/
for he shall no longer return,/
nor see his native country.
11 For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place: "He shall not return there anymore, 12 But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall no longer see this land.
13 "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness/
and his chambers by wrong,/
who uses his neighbor's service without wages/
and does not give him his wages,
14 Who says, 'I will build myself a wide house/
and large chambers,'/
and cuts out windows for himself,/
and it is ceiled with cedar and painted with vermilion.
15 Shall you reign because you close yourself in cedar?/
Did your father not eat and drink and do judgment and justice?/
Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy./
Then it was well with him./
Was this not to know me?" says the LORD.
17 "But your eyes and your heart/
are only for your covetousness,/
and for shedding innocent blood,/
for oppression, and for violence, to do it."
18 Therefore, thus says 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!'
19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,/
drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry,/
and lift up your voice in Bashan/
and cry from the passages,/
for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,/
but you said, 'I will not hear.'/
This has been your manner from your youth,/
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all your pastors,/
and your lovers shall go into captivity./
Surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded/
for all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,/
who makes your nest in the cedars,/
how gracious you shall be when pangs come upon you,/
the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 "As I live," says the LORD, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck you from there. 25 And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast out you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born. And there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they desire to return, they shall not return there.
28 "Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?/
Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure?/
Why are they cast out—he and his offspring—/
and are cast into a land which they do not know?
29 O earth, earth, earth,/
hear the word of the LORD.
30 Thus says the LORD:/
'Write this man childless,/
a man who shall not prosper in his days,/
for no man of his offspring shall prosper,/
sitting upon the throne of David/
and ruling anymore in Judah.'"
Matthew Henry Commentary - Jeremiah, Chapter 22[➚]