¹This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak these words there, ²and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who come through these gates. ³This is what the Lord says: «Administer justice and righteousness, and deliver him who has been plundered from the hand of the oppressor, and do not drive out or do violence to the foreigner, orphan, or widow. And do not shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you diligently do this thing, then kings will enter through the gates of this house, sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, each and his servants, and his people. ⁵But if you do not heed these things, I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a ruin.» ⁶For this is what the Lord says to the house of the king of Judah:

«You are Gilead to me

– The summit of Lebanon –

But I will certainly make you a desert

– Cities which are not inhabited.

⁷And I will consecrate destroyers against you

– Each one and his weapons –

And they will cut your choice cedars down

And consign them to the fire.

⁸Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, ‹Why has the Lord done this to this great city?› ⁹And they will say, ‹Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and they worshipped other gods and served them.›

¹⁰Do not weep for him who is dead,

And do not bemoan him;

Weep profusely rather

For him who goes away,

For he will not return again

Or see his native land.»

¹¹For this is what the Lord says to Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who was reigning in place of Josiah his father, who went out of this place: «He will not return there any more. ¹²For the place to which they deport him is where he will die, and he will no longer see this country.

¹³Woe to him who builds his house on an unrighteous basis,

And his upper rooms in an unjust way,

With his neighbour working for nothing,

And not giving him his wages,

¹⁴Who says,

‹I will build myself a vast house,

And spacious upper rooms.›

And he cuts himself out windows,

And it is panelled with cedar,

And it is painted with red ochre.

¹⁵Will you reign

Because you are zealous about cedar?

Did your father not eat and drink

And administer justice and righteousness,

And then things went well with him?

¹⁶He defended the interest of the poor and the needy,

Then it went well with him.

Is this not knowing me?

Says the Lord.

¹⁷For your eyes and your heart

Are set on nothing but personal profit

And on shedding the blood of the innocent

And on oppression and on inflicting ill-treatment.»

¹⁸That is why this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah:

«They shall not mourn for him, saying,

‹Alas, my brother›,

And, ‹Alas, sister.›

They shall not mourn for him saying,

‹Alas, lord›,

Or, ‹Alas for his illustriousness.›

¹⁹He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,

Which they drag and cast down

Beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And raise your voice in Bashan,

And cry out from Abarim,

For all your lovers have been routed.

²¹I spoke to you in your time at ease,

But you said, ‹I will not hear.›

This has been your way since your youth,

For you have not heeded my voice.

²²The wind will consume all your shepherds,

And your lovers will go into captivity,

For then you will be put to shame,

And you will suffer ignominy

Because of all your wickedness.

²³You who live in Lebanon,

Who have had your nest built in the cedars,

How pitiable you are

When the pangs come upon you

– The throes as of a woman giving birth.

²⁴As I live, says the Lord, even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you off it. ²⁵And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose presence you fear, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶And I will cast you out, and your mother who gave birth to you, to another land where you were not born, and you will die there. ²⁷And to a land where they will set their heart on returning, but they will not return to it.

²⁸Is this man Coniah not a despicable smashed piece of earthenware?

Or a vessel which has nothing attractive about it?

Why have he and his seed been cast out

And ejected into a land

Which they have not known?»

²⁹O earth, earth, earth,

Hear the word of the Lord.

³⁰This is what the Lord says:

«Record this man as childless

– A man who will not prosper in his days –

For none of his seed will prosper,

Neither as a man sitting on the throne of David,

Nor a ruler in Judah any more.» ’ ”