Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, a‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: aDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And bdo no wrong or violence cto the resident alien, athe fatherless, and the widow, nor dshed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, athen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I aswear by myself, declares the Lord, that bthis house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of aLebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
ban uninhabited city.
7 aI will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
band they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 “‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, a“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 aAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”
10 aWeep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
bbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and awho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but ain the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”
13 a“Woe to him who builds his house by bunrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
cwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and apainting it with vermilion.
15 Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and ado justice and righteousness?
bThen it was well with him.
16 aHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;
bthen it was well.
Is not this cto know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
afor shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
a“They shall not lament for him, saying,
b‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
c‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19 With the burial of a donkey ahe shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from aAbarim,
for all byour lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
aThis has been your way from byour youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 aThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and byour lovers shall go into captivity;
cthen you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23 O inhabitant of aLebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
bpain as of a woman in labor!”
24 a“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were bthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25 and agive you binto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 aI will hurl you and bthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”
28 Is this man aConiah a despised, broken pot,
a bvessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a cland that they do not know?
29 aO land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as achildless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
bfor none of his offspring shall succeed
bin sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”