Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2 and say, w‘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: xDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ydo no wrong or violence zto the resident alien, xthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ashed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you will indeed obey this word, bthen 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 cswear by myself, declares the Lord, that dthis 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 eLebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

fan uninhabited city.1

7  gI will prepare destroyers against you,

each with his weapons,

hand 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, i“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 jAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.” ’ ”

10  kWeep not for him who is dead,

nor grieve for him,

lbut 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 mwho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but min the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

13  n“Woe to him who builds his house by ounrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

pwho 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 qpainting it with vermilion.

15  Do you think you are a king

because you compete in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

and rdo justice and righteousness?

sThen it was well with him.

16  tHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;

sthen it was well.

Is not this uto know me?

declares the Lord.

17  But you have eyes and heart

only for your dishonest gain,

vfor shedding innocent blood,

and for practicing oppression and violence.”

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

w“They shall not lament for him, saying,

x‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’

They shall not lament for him, saying,

y‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’

19  With the burial of a donkey zhe 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.’

cThis has been your way from dyour youth,

that you have not obeyed my voice.

22  eThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,

and byour lovers shall go into captivity;

fthen you will be ashamed and confounded

because of all your evil.

23  O inhabitant of gLebanon,

nested among the cedars,

how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,

hpain as of a woman in labor!”