The XXII. Chapter.
[ A] THus sayde the LORDE also: Go dow∣ne in to the house of the kinge off Iu¦da, and speake there these wordes, & saye: Heare the worde off the LORDE, thou kinge off Iuda that syttest in the kyngly sea¦te off Dauid: thou and thy seruauntes ād ye people, that go in & out at this gate. Thus the LORDE commaundeth: kepe equite and rightuousnesse, delyuer the oppressed frō the power off the violent: do not greue ner op∣presse the straunger, the fatherlesse ner the wyddowe, ād shed no innocēt bloude in this place.
And yff ye kepe these thinges faithfully, then shall there come in at the dore off this house kynges, to syt vpō Dauids seate: they shal be caried in Charettes and ryde vpon horses, both they & their seruauntes, ād their people. But yf ye wil not be obedient vnto these commaundementes, I sweare by my∣ne owne self (saieth ye LORDE) this house shal be waist. For thus hath the LORDE spoken v∣pon the kinges house of Iuda: Thou art the heade, as Galaad is in Libanus: What wilt thou laye of it, yf I make the not so waist (& [ B] thy cities also) that no man shal dwell there in? I will prepare a destroyer with his wea¦pēs for the, to hew downe thy special Cedre trees, and to cast them in the fyre.
And all the people that go by this cite, shall speake one to another: Wherfore hath the LORDE done thus vnto this noble cite? Then shall it be answered: because they ha∣ue broken the couenaunt off the LORDE their God, and haue worshipped and serued straūge goddes. Mourne not ouer the deed, and be not wo for them, but be sory for him that departeth awaye: for he commeth not agayne, ād seeth his natyue countre no mo¦re. For thus saieth the LORDE, as touchinge Sellum the sonne of Iosias kinge of Iuda, which reygned after his father, and is cari∣ed out off this place:
He shal neuer come hither agayne, for he shal dye in the place, where vnto he is led ca¦ptyue, and shall se this londe nomore. Wo worth him, that buyldeth his house with vn¦rightuousnes, ād his perlers with the good, that he hath gotten by violence: which ne∣uer recompenseth his neghburs laboure, ner payeth him his hyre. He thinketh in himself: I wil buylde me a wyde house, ād gorgeous [ C] perlers: He causeth wyndowes to be hewen there in, and the sylinges and geastes ma∣keth he off Cedre, and paynteth them with Zenober. Thinkest thou to reigne, now that thou prouokest me to wrath with yt Cedre trees?
Dyd not thy father eate and drynke, and prospere well, as lōge as he dealt with equi¦te ād rightuousnesse? Yee when he helped ye oppressed and poore to their right, then pros¦pered he well.
From whence came this, but only be∣cause he had me before his eyes? saieth the LORDE. Neuertheles, as for thine eyes and thine herte, they loke vpon covetousnesse, to shed innocent bloude, to do wronge and violence. And therfore, thus saieth the LOR∣DE agaynst Ioachim, ye sonne of Iosias kyn¦ge of Iuda: They shall not mourne for him (as they vse to do) alas brother, alas syster: