The Skeptics Annotated Bible (590 page)

15 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?

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

17 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.

18 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!

19 He
shall be buried
with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth
beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

(22.18-19)
“Jehoiakim … shall be buried … beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
267 Where did Jehoiakim die?

20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

21 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.

22 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.

23 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!

24 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;

(22.25-30) God will have Jeconiah’s enemies kill him and his mother and then ensure that he die without leaving any sons, which seems a bit strange since Jeconiah is listed as an ancestor of Jesus in Matthew 1.12.

25 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.

(22.25)
“I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life.”

26 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.

(22.26)
“I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.”

27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither 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, hear the word of the LORD.

30
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.

(22.30)
“Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless.”
263 Did Jeconiah have any sons?

23
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, 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, saith the LORD.

5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

(23.9-14)

9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets;
all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.

(23.9)
“All my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.”
Jeremiah is drunk on God’s holiness.

10 For
the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up
, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

(23.10)
“The land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.”
The land dried up because of swearing adulterers.

(23.11-14) God’s priests and prophets are profane, wicked, adulterous, lying sodomites.