BOOK 24 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Jeremiah 22

Jeremiah book home•Chapter 22 of 52•30 verses

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Jeremiah 22 Overview

Jeremiah addresses Judah’s kings: justice toward the oppressed could preserve the royal house, but Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Coniah are condemned for exploitation, selfish luxury, and failed rule, with Coniah barred from prospering on David’s throne.

JeremiahBook

22Chapter

30Verses

Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Jeremiah 22

Coming from

King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah for divine help against Nebuchadnezzar, but the LORD announces that He Himself will fight against Jerusalem; the people are offered a way of life through surrender, and David’s house is told to practice justice.

In this chapter

Leads into

Jeremiah condemns shepherds who scatter the flock, promises a righteous Davidic Branch called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, foretells restored Israel, and exposes prophets whose dreams and messages arise from their own hearts rather than God’s council.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter gathers royal oracles, not necessarily in chronological order. It evaluates kings by covenant justice rather than palace grandeur.

The interpretive center of Jeremiah 22 is the chapter’s own movement: kingship is judged by justice, not architecture. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Kingship is judged by justice, not architecture

Jehoiakim’s impressive cedar house cannot compensate for exploiting workers.

Privilege increases accountability

Davidic kings cannot assume covenant promises excuse personal rebellion.

Coniah’s judgment creates a serious royal-line tension

A Davidic descendant is barred from prospering on Judah’s throne, sharpening the need for God’s promised righteous Branch.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

2 Samuel 7

The enduring Davidic covenant stands behind the importance of the royal judgments.

Matthew 1:11-16

Coniah/Jeconiah appears in Jesus’ legal genealogy through Joseph, raising important discussions about the curse and messianic descent.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

Immediately afterward Jeremiah promises a righteous Branch from David who will reign wisely.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not claim Coniah’s judgment cancels the Davidic covenant.

Jeremiah itself moves directly to a future righteous Davidic king.

Do not use the royal condemnations to teach that material prosperity is inherently wrong.

The issue is luxury built alongside injustice and unpaid labor.

Read Jeremiah 22 watching for…

justice at the king’s house

Shallum’s exile

Jehoiakim’s unpaid labor

Coniah as a signet ring removed

the throne-line crisis

Chapter outline3 sections

1-9Judah’s king is commanded to do justice and warned that the palace can become desolate 10-19Shallum will die in exile, and Jehoiakim is condemned for injustice and self-indulgence 20-30Jerusalem is warned, and Coniah is cast out and declared childless regarding David’s throne

Thus saith 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 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.

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 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.

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 have forsaken 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, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

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;

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.

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?

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

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.

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!

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 the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

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.

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.

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!

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 whose face thou fearest, 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 bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

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?

O earth, earth, earth, 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.