1 Thus says theLord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word,
2 and say,‘Hear the word of theLord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!
3 Thus says theLord:“Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, thefatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you indeed do this thing,then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.
5 But if you will not hear these words,I swear by Myself,” says theLord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”
6 For thus says theLordto the house of the king of Judah:
# “YouareGilead to Me,
The head of Lebanon;
YetI surely will make you a wilderness,
Citieswhichare not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
Everyone with his weapons;
# They shall cut downyour choice cedars
# And casttheminto the fire.
8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor,‘Why has theLorddone so to this great city?’
9 Then they will answer,‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of theLordtheir God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
10 Weep not forthe dead, nor bemoan him;
# Weep bitterly for himwho goes away,
For he shall return no more,
Nor see his native country.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says theLordconcerningShallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father,who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore,
12 but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13 “Woeto him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his chambers by injustice,
# Whouses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Panelingitwith cedar
And paintingitwith vermilion.’
15 “Shall you reign because you encloseyourselfin cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
# Thenitwaswell with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Thenitwaswell.
Wasnot this knowing Me?” says theLord.
17 “Yetyour eyes and your heartarefor nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says theLordconcerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
# “They shall not lament for him,
# Saying,‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’
They shall not lament for him,
Saying,‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his glory!’
19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,
Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
Butyou said, ‘I will not hear.’
# Thishasbeenyour manner from your youth,
That you did not obey My voice.
22 The wind shall eat up allyour rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
# Likethe pain of a woman in labor?
Message to Coniah
24 “AsI live,” says theLord,“though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off;
25 and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the handofthosewhose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 So I will cast you out, and your 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 desire to return, there they shall not return.
28 “Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol—
# A vessel in whichisno pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
29 O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of theLord!
30 Thus says theLord:
# ‘Write this man down aschildless,
A manwhoshall not prosper in his days;
# Fornone of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”