U��A���22:1-30. Individualy. ���A���23:1-8. Collectively.
A���B��1-9. To Jehoiakim. �����C��10-12. Touching Shallum. ����B��13-19. To Jehoiakim. �����C��20-30. Touching Coniah.
B��a��1-3. Command. ����b��4,5. Consequence. ���a��6,7. Address. ����b��8,9. Consequence.
489 B.C.
22) 1: Thus says Yehovah; Go down (cp. 36:12) to the house of the king of Judah (i.e. Jehoiakim = whom Yehovah sets up), and speak there this word,
�2: And say, �Hear the word of ehovah, O king of Judah, that sits upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your People that enter in by these gates:
�3: Thus says Yehovah; Execute you all (see 7:5) judgment, yes righteous judgment, and deliver the robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow (put for all afflicted ones), neither shed innocent blood in this place. (see 7:6)
�4: For if you all do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting for David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
�5: But if you all will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, [is] Yehovah's oracle, that this house shall become a desolation.�
�6: For thus says Yehovah to the king's house of Judah (see 3:18); You are Gilead to Me (= rocky region), and the head of Lebanon (= white): yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
�7: And I will set apart destroyers against you (Cp: 6:4; 51:27,28), every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars (put for houses built of cedar), and cast them into the fire.
�8: And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, �Why has Yehovah done thus to this great city?� (see 16:10)
�9: Then they shall answer, �Because they have forsaken the covenant of Yehovah their Elohim, and worshipped other gods, and served them.�
�10: Weep you all not for the dead (i.e. Josiah), neither bemoan him (i.e. Jehoiakim): but weep you all, wep on for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
�11: For thus says Yehovah touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah (= retribution. Josiah has 4 sons, 1 Chron.3:15. Shallum had another name - Jehoahaz = whom Yehovah sustains. Cp. 2 ings 23:31,34. Zedekiah must have been younger than Jehoaikim or Jehoahaz, for he was but 21 when he began to reign, and therefore only 10 when Jehoiakim began to reign), which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return to that place any more:
�12: But he shall die in the place to which place they have led him captive (i.e. in Egypt. He was the first king of Israel to do so. 2 Kings 23:34), and shall see this land no more.
�13: Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper chambers in injustice; that uses his neighbour's service without wages (see Lev.19:13), and gives him not [wages] for his work;
�14: That say, �I will build me a wide house and airy (or, roomy) chambers,� and cuts him out its windows; and it is panneled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
�15: Shall you reign, because you closest yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and righteousness, and then it was well with him?
�16: He (i.e. Josiah) judged the cause (= "[did he not] judge righteouss judgment") of the wretched and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know Me? [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�17: But your eyes and your mind are not but (or, Truely, you have neither eyes nor mind save") for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
�18: Therefore thus says Yehovah 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 an ass (note the oxymoron, which gives the meaning that he was not buried at all [for asses have no funerals]. Jehoiakim is the only king of Judah whose burial is not recorded. See 2 Kings 24:6), drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. (i.e. the ass, not Jehoiakim. Cp. Isa.26:19)
�20: Go up to Lebanon, and cry [the cry of distress]; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages (= Abarim: the mountains beyond Jordan, the range of Nebo. Cp. Num.27:12; 33:47,48. Deut.32:49): for all your lovers are destroyed. (i.e. the neighboring nations, to whom they looked to instead of God)
�21: I spoke to you in your [great] prosperity; but you said, �I will not hear.� This has been your manner from your youth, that you listened not to My voice.
�22: The wind (ruach) shall eat up all your pastors (put for rulers of all kinds. See 2:8; 3:15, &c.), and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. (put for the cause of the calamity)
�23: O inhabitress of Lebanon (i.e. Zion. "Lebanon" put for the cedars grown there, then "cedars" put for the houses built of that timber), that makes your nest in the cedars, how great to be pitied shall you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
�24: As I live, [is] Yehovah's oracle, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah (fig., by which the first syllable is cut off. He is called "Jechoniah"= whom Yehovah establishes, 1 Chron.3:16, but the cutting off of the Divine name "Ye", for Yehovah [or, Yah], is meant to show the departure of Yehovah from Jechoniah, and that he himself would be cut off) were the signet upon my right hand (Cp. Hag.2:23), yet would I pluck you from that place;
�25: And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your soul, and into the hand of them whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
�26: And I will cast you out, and your mother that bare you, into another country, where you all were not born; and there shall you all die.
�27: But to the land whereunto they are lifting up their soul, to that place shall they not return.
�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?
�29: O earth, earth, earth (put for great emphasis), hear the word of Yehovah.
�30: Thus says Yehovah, Write you all this man childless (i.e. as to the throne [see last clause]. Not one of his 7 sons, 1 Chron.3:17,18, sat upon his throne), a strong 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.
A���c��1,2. Shepherds. Woe to false. �����d��3. Restoration. The remnant. ����c��4-6. Shepherd. The true. The BRANCH. �����d��7,8. Restoration. The Nation.
23) 1: Woe be to the rulers that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! [is] Yehovah's oracle. (see 2:8; 3:15, &c. A good man will fight and protect his livestock. Many today hunger for GOD'S truth, but are not being fed! Woe, woe, woe!!!)
�2: Therefore thus says Yehovah Elohim of Israel against the pastors that are the feeders of My people; You all have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, [is] Yehovah's oracle. (see Ex.32:34)
�3: And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries wherever I have driven them (cp. 31:10; 32:7. Ezek.34:13, &c.), and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
�4: And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking (this has not happened yet. This is prophecy waiting to be fulfilled), [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�5: Behold, the days come, [is] Yehovah's oracle, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch (= Sprout from the root, not from a branch. Cp. Isa.11"1; 53:2. ence, Heb. zemach. The name of the brightest star in the Zodiac sign "Virgo". See note on the Structure of the 4 Gospels. Cp. 33:15), and a King shall reign and prosper (see Matthew. Cp. Isa.9:6,7. Zech.6:12,13. Ps.72:2. Luke 1:32), and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. (see 22:3)
�6: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely (see Lev.25:18,19; 26:5. Deut.6:12,28. Repeated in 32:37; 33:16): and this is His name whereby He shall be called, Yehovah Zidk�n�. (because of the gift of God)
�7: Therefore, behold, the days come (cp.16:14,15), [is] Yehovah's oracle, that they shall no more say, �Yehovah lives, Which brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;� (see Ex.12 - 15)
�8: But, �Yehovah lives, Which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country (see 2:4), and from all countries wherever I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own soil.� �
V��e��9-15. Incrimination. ����f��16-22. Dehortation. ���e��23-29. Incrimination. ����f��30-40. Threatening.
�9: My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a strong man whom wine has overcome, because of Yehovah, and because of the words of His holiness.
�10: For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil (i.e. the false prophets), and their force is not right.
�11: For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house have I found their wickedness, [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�12: This is why their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring calamity upon them, even the year of their visitation, [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�13: And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused My People Israel to err.
�14: I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none does return from his lawlessness: they are all of them to Me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. (see Gen.19. Cp. Isa.1:10)
�15: Therefore thus says Yehovah Sabaioth (Heb. Zebaioth) concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
�16: Thus says Yehovah Sabaioth, �Listenen not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart (false prophets), and not out of the mouth of Yehovah.
�17: They keep on saying to them that despise Me, �Yehovah has said, �You all shall have peace;� � (they don't teach the king of Babylon - Satan - is comming) and they say to every one that walks after the imagination of his own heart, �No calamity shall come upon you.� (they teach the false "rapture" doctrine)
�18: For who has stood in the secret counsel of Yehovah, and has perceived and heard His word? who has marked His word (= meditated), and heard it? (or, announced. p. v.22. You can tell a phony when you hear one)
�19: Behold, a whirlwind of Yehovah is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall burst upon the head of the lawless ones. (the gang leader is Satan)
�20: The anger of Yehovah shall not return, until He has executed [His plan], and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart: in the latter days (these are the later days that we live in now. See Gen.49:1) you all shall consider it perfectly. (cp. 30:24)
�21: I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran (they are anxious): I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. (especially the false "rapture" doctrine. Cp. v.32; 14:14)
�22: But, had they stood in My counsel: then they would have made My People to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. (Because it will happen EXACTLY as HE has written it!!!)
�23: Am I a Elohim at hand (He is everywhere), [is] Yehovah's oracle, and not a Elohim afar off?
�24: Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see Him? [is] Yehovah's oracle. Do not I fill heaven and earth? [is] Yehovah's oracle. (the Hebrew accent [Tiphch�] puts the emphasis on "fill" [not on "earth"], denoting the fulness of the Divine presence which no place can include, or exclude. A fulness of grace, of the prophetic word of judgment, and of promise)
�25: I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My name, saying, �I have dreamed, I have dreamed.� (thus catching the peoples ear)
�26: How long shall this exist in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? (see 31:6,16,17. Prov.8:21; 18:24, and Luke 7:25) yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
�27: Which think to cause My People to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, according as their fathers have forgotten My name through Baal. (they don't know the difference)
�28: The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has My word (all chapters and all verses in context. Cp. Ezek.13:7), let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? (= crushed or chopped straw) [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�29: Is not My word like as a fire? [is] Yehovah's oracle; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
�30: Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets (i.e. the false prophets. See Deut.18:20), [is] Yehovah's oracle, that steal My word every one from his neighbour. (God doesn't deal in nonsense)
�31: Behold, I am against the prophets, [is] Yehovah's oracle, that use their tongues, and uttered it as an oracle. (see Gen.22:16. Num.14:28; 24:3,4,15,16)
�32: Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, [is] Yehovah's oracle, and do tell them, and cause My People to err by their lies, and by their reckless boasting; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this People at all, [is] Yehovah's oracle.
�33: And when this People, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, �What is the burden of Yehovah?� you shall then say to them, �You all yourselves are the burden?� I will even reject you, [is] Yehovah's oracle. (God only has good news. The burdens don't come from God. Cp v.36)
�34: And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the People, that shall say, �The burden of Yehovah,� I will even punish that man and his house (or, church).
�35: Thus shall you all say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, �What hath the LORD answered?� and, �What has Yehovah spoken?�
�36: And the burden of Yehovah shall you all mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for you all have perverted the words (see 6:10) of the living Elohim (both words are plural), of Yehovah Sabaioth our Elohim.
�37: Thus shall you say to the prophet, �What has Yehovah answered thee?� and, �What has Yehovah spoken?� (ask with respect)
�38: But since you all say, �The burden of Yehovah;� therefore thus says Yehovah; �Because you all keep on saying this word, �The burden of Yehovah,� and I have sent to you, saying, �You all shall not say, The burden of Yehovah;� �
�39: Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
�40: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.� � (fig., put for a part of time = life long. Limited here by the promised Restoration)
W D 1. Symbol. Two baskets of figs.
E g 2-. Good figs.
h -2. Bad figs.
g 3-. Good figs.
h -3. Bad figs.
D 4. Signification of Symbol.
E i 5. Captives. (Good figs).
k 6,7. For their good.
i 8. Remnant. (Bad figs).
k 9,10. For their evil.488 B.C.
24) 1: Yehovah made me see, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of Yehovah, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and armourers, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2: One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe:
and the other basket had very naughty figs (= worth nothing), which could not be eaten, they were so bad. (here we have the prime root of the parable of the fig tree taught by Christ)
3: Then said Yehovah to me, �What do you see, Jeremiah?� And I said, �Figs; the good figs, very good;
and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.� (same type as false messiah)
5: �Thus says Yehovah Elohim of Israel; �Like these good figs, so will I own them that are carried away captive of Judah (put for regard, or care for), whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6: And I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. (This hasn't happened yet to the fullness and completion of prophecy. Cp. 1:10; 18:7-9)
7: And I will give them an mind to know Me (see Deut.30:6. A mind to know the Truth), that I am Yehovah: and they shall be My People (see Lev.26:12), and I will be their Elohim: for they shall return to Me with their whole mind.
8: And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus says Yehovah, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem (=Kenites + bad figs), that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9: And I will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth (see Deut.28:25) for their hurt (=calamity, see 25:6; 38:4), [I will deliver them to be] a reproach and a proverb, and a taunt and a curse, in all places wherever I shall drive them.
10: And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them (see Lev.26:25,26. Deut.28:21-24), till they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.� �