Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall
1 Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there:
2 ‘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 enter by these gates.
3 ~‘Thus says the Lord, “Execute justice and righteousness, and rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then kings will enter through the gates of this palace, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses,even the kinghimself and his servants and his people.
5 But if you will not hearandobey these words, I swear [an oath] by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”
6 For thus says the Lordin regard to the house of the king of Judah:
“You are [as valuable] to Me as [the green pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan]
Or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan],
Yet most certainly [if you will not listen to Me] I will make you a wilderness,
And uninhabited cities.
7 “For I will prepareandappoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you,
Each with his weapons;
And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars
And throw them in the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and each man will say to another, ‘Why has the Lorddone this to this great city?’
9 Then they will answer, ‘Because the people ignoredandabandoned the [solemn] covenant with the Lordtheir God and worshiped other gods and served them.’”
10 Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him;
But weep bitterly for the one who goes away [into exile],
For he will never return
And see his native country [again].
11 For thus says the Lordin regard to Shallum (Jehoahaz) the [third] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went from this place, “Shallum will not return here anymore;
12 he will die in the place where they led him captive and not see this land again.
Messages about the Kings
13 “Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds his house by [acts of] unrighteousness
And his upper chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor’s service without pay
And does not give him wages [for his work],
14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house
With large upper rooms,
And cut out its [wide] windows,
And panel it with cedar and paint it vermilion.’
15 “Do you think that you become a king because you have much more cedar [in your palace than Solomon]?
Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank,
Do just and righteous acts [being upright and in right standing with God]?
Then all was well with him.
16 “He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then all was well.
Is that not what it means to know Me?”
Says the Lord.
17 “But your eyes and your heart
Are only intent on your own dishonest gain,
On shedding innocent blood,
On oppression and extortionandviolence.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lordin regard toJehoiakim the [second] son of Josiah, king of Judah,
“The relatives will not lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) for him:
‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister,’ [how great our loss]!
The subjects will not lament for him:
‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, majesty [how great was his glory]!’
19 “He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey–
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out,
And raise your voice in [the hills of] Bashan [across the Jordan];
Cry out also fromAbarim,
For all your lovers (allies) have been destroyed.
21 “I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity,
But you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your attitudeandpractice from your youth;
You have not obeyed My voice.
22 “The wind [of adversity] will carry away all your shepherds (rulers, statesmen),
And your lovers (allies) will go into exile.
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliatedanddisgraced
Because of all your wickedness.
23 “O inhabitant of [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made from the cedars of] Lebanon,
You who nest in the cedars,
How you will groanandhow miserable you will be when pains come on you,
Pain like a woman in childbirth!
24 “As I live,” says the Lord, “thoughConiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] on My right hand, yet would I pull you (Coniah) off.
25 And I will place you in the hand of those who seek your life and in the hand of those whom you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of theChaldeans.
26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.
27 But as for the land to which they long to return, they will not return to it.
28 “Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken jar?
Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure?
Why are he and his [royal] descendants hurled out
And cast into a land which they do not knoworunderstand?
29 “O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord,
‘Write this man [Coniah] down as childless,
A man who will not prosper (succeed) in his lifetime;
For not one of his descendants will succeed
In sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”