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is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and there proclaim this word. 2 You are to say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3 This is what the Lord says: “Administer justice and righteousness. Deliver from the hand of the oppressor those who have been plundered. Do no wrong and do not exploit the foreign resident, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not spill innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you are careful to carry out this word, then kings who sit on the throne of David will enter the gates of this house, riding on chariots and horses accompanied by their servants and their people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, then I swear by Myself”, declares the Lord, “that this palace will become a ruin” ’.”
6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:
“You are like Gilead to Me,
like the summit of Lebanon;
yet I will surely make you into a wilderness,
cities that are not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
each man with his weapons;
they will cut down your choice cedars,
and throw them into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will all ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’ 9 And they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped and served other gods’.”
10 Weep not for the dead;
do not lament for him;
weep rather for him who has gone away,
for he will never return again,
nor see his native land.
11 For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded Josiah his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return here again, 12 but he will die in the place where they have led him captive, and he will never see this land again.”
13 “Woe to him who builds his house
through unrighteousness,
his upper rooms through injustice,
who makes his fellow man work without pay,
and will not give him his wages,
14 who says: ‘I will build myself a great palace,
with spacious upper rooms’.
So he cuts out windows in it,
panels it with cedar,
and paints it with vermilion.
15 “Are you a king
because you enclose yourself with cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink?
He did what was just and right,
and all went well with him.
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
then it went well.
Is this not what it means to know Me?”
declares the Lord.
17 “But your eyes and your heart
are only set on your own dishonest gain,
on shedding innocent blood,
and practising oppression and extortion.”
18 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
“They will not mourn for him,
saying, ‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him,
saying, ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his majesty!’
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey—
dragged away and discarded
outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon and cry out:
lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are crushed.
21 I spoke to you when you were secure,
but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;
for you have not obeyed My voice.
22 The wind will drive away all your shepherds,
and your lovers will go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and humiliated
because of all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
nestled among the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
like the pain of a woman in labour!
24 “As I live,” declares the Lord, “if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would still tear you from it. 25 I will give you into the hands of those who seek your life, into the hands of those you are afraid of—into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans. 26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another country, where neither of you were born, and there both of you will die.
27 “They will never return to the land they long to return to.”
28 “Is this man Coniah
a despised, broken pot,
a vessel no one wants?
Why are he and his descendants hurled out,
and cast away into a land they do not know?
29 O land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!”
30 This is what the Lord says:
“Record this man as childless,
a man who will not prosper in his lifetime;
for none of his offspring will succeed,
none will sit on the throne of David,
or rule again in Judah.”