Jeremiah 22:1-9 - Judgment Against Sinful Kings

¹ Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ² And say, Hear thou the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, sitting upon the throne of David, thou and thy servants, and thy people coming in to these gates: ³ Thus said Jehovah, Do ye judgment and justice, and deliver him taken by force, from the hand of him oppressing: ye shall not be violent, ye shall not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, and ye shall not pour but innocent blood in this place. ⁴ For if doing, ye shall do this word, and kings came into the gates of this house, sitting to David upon his throne, riding in chariots and upon horses, he send his servants and his people. ⁵ And if ye will not bear these words, by myself I sware, says Jehovah, that this house shall be for a desolation.

⁶ For thus said Jehovah, concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon, if I shall not set thee a desert cities not inhabited. ⁷ And I consecrated destroyers against thee, a man and his weapons: and they cut off from the chosen of thy cedars and cast upon the fire.

⁸ And many nations passed through this city, and they said a man to his neighbor, For what did Jehovah thus to this great city? ⁹ And they said, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and they will worship to other gods, and serve them.