All right, all right, join the Journey family, friends, and guests. You're listening to Join the Journey

podcast with your host, Emma, daughter. Thanks for joining. Today, we're reading Jeremiah

chapters 22 through 24, three pretty dense chapters filled with judgment, warning, and hope.

Now, I don't know about you, but hope is definitely something

I could use a little extra of today. In the middle of all this chaos throughout Jeremiah,

we see broken kings, broken promises, broken hearts, there's this tiny little gem tucked in

Jeremiah 23, 5 through 6. It's like a whisper that's saying, hey, it's not always going to be this way.

And this little gem is the promise of a quote-unquote righteous branch. So today we're asking,

who is the righteous branch? And what does that mean for us? Now, if you haven't yet read these

chapters, pause the episode and go read

or turn on audio Bible and then jump back in, as we hope you're doing every day on the journey.

Now let's remember where we are. Jeremiah is a prophet in Judah during the final years

right before exile, leading up to exile. So God's people are in full-on

rebellion mode, spiritually, politically, socially, things are just a big mess. And in chapter 22,

God sends Jeremiah to confront the kings, literally to walk into the palace and speak truth,

which is a pretty bold move.

And God's essentially saying, hey, go tell the king of Judah that this isn't working.

He's not doing what's right.

He's oppressing the vulnerable.

He's shedding innocent blood.

He's not obeying my word.

And then we get this tragic phrase in 2230, where God says of King Jeholykin, record this man as childless.

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