1 T hus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word:

2 H ear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit upon the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates.

3 T hus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver out of the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger or temporary resident, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

4 F or if you will indeed obey this word, then will there enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting upon David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their servants and their people.

5 B ut if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.

6 F or thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: you are to Me as Gilead or as the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a wilderness and uninhabited cities.

7 A nd I will prepare, solemnly set apart, and appoint destroyers, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

8 A nd many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done this to this great city?

9 T hen they will answer, Because forsook the covenant or solemn pledge with the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.

10 W eep not for him who is dead nor bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country.

11 F or thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: shall not return here any more;

12 B ut he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and he shall see this land no more.

13 W oe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service without wages and does not give him his pay,

14 W ho says, I will build myself a wide house with large rooms, and he cuts himself out windows, and it is ceiled or paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

15 D o you think that being a king means vying and striving to excel in cedar ? Did not your father, as he ate and drank, do justice and righteousness ? Then it was well with him.

16 H e judged and defended the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know and recognize Me? says the Lord.

17 B ut your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness and dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression and doing violence.

18 T herefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister, shall not lament for him saying, Ah, lord! or Ah, his majesty! or Ah, his glory!

19 h e shall be buried with the burial of a donkey—dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 G o up to Lebanon and cry out, and raise your voice in of Bashan, and cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers (the king’s chosen allies) are destroyed.

21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not listen! This has been your attitude from your youth; you have not obeyed My voice.

22 T he wind shall pasture upon and consume all your shepherds (your princes and statesmen), and your lovers (allies) shall go into captivity. Surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded and dismayed because of all your wickedness.

23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, you who make your nest among the cedars, how you will groan and how pitiable you will be when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in childbirth!

24 A s I live, says the Lord, though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon My right hand, yet would I tear you off.

25 A nd I will give you into the hands of those who seek your life and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans.

26 A nd I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you will die.

27 B ut to the land to which they will yearn to return, there they will not return.

28 I s this man Coniah a despised, broken pot? Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure? Why are they hurled out, he and his royal offspring, and cast into a land which they do not know, understand, or recognize?

29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!

30 T hus says the Lord: Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his offspring shall succeed in sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.