Thus says Jehovah, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there,

And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people, who enter through these gates:

Thus says Jehovah, Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver him who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow; nor shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you indeed do this thing, then kings sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses-the king and his servants and his people will come through the gates of this house;

But if you do not listen to these things, I swear by Myself, declares Jehovah, that this house will become a ruin.

For thus says Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah, You are Gilead to Me, The summit of Lebanon; Yet I will surely make you a wilderness, Cities that are not inhabited.

And I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choice cedars And cast them into the fire.

And many nations will pass by this city, and they will say each one to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done this to this great city?

And they will say, It is because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.

Do not weep for the one who died, nor lament for him; But weep bitterly for the one who goes away, For he will no longer return and see The land of his birth.

For thus says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went away from this place: He will not return there any more;

But in the place where they have exiled him he will die and never see this land again.

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his upper rooms by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without wages And does not give him recompense for his work,

Who says, I will build myself a large house With spacious upper chambers, And cuts out for it windows; and it is paneled with cedar And painted with vermilion.

Are you a king because you Excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, And execute judgment and righteousness? Thus it was well with him.

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; thus it was well. Is not this to know Me? Declares Jehovah.

But you have eyes and a heart Only for your unjust gain And for shedding innocent blood And for oppression and doing violence.

Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, They will not wail for him, saying, Alas, my brother! or, Alas, sister! They will not wail for him, saying, Alas, lord! or, Alas, his majesty!

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey-Dragged and cast out Beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Go up to Lebanon and cry out; And lift up your voice in Bashan, And cry out from Abarim, For all your lovers have been shattered.

I spoke to you in your prosperity; But you said, I will not listen. This has been your way from your youth, That you have not listened to My voice.

The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, And your lovers will go into captivity; Then you will be ashamed and confounded Because of all your wickedness.

O inhabitant of Lebanon, Nested among the cedars, How you will be pitied when pains come to you, Anguish like that of a woman giving birth.

As I live, declares Jehovah, Even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would tear you off,

And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those whom you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

I will cast you and your mother who bore you far away into another land where you were not born, and there you will die.

But to the land to which their soul desires to return, they will not return.

Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered container? Or is he a vessel no one delights in? Why are he and his seed thrown away And cast into a land which they do not know?

O land, land, land, Hear the word of Jehovah:

Thus says Jehovah, Write down this man as childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For none of his seed will prosper By sitting on the throne of David Or by ruling again in Judah.