A Warning for Judah's Kings

1Thus said the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sit on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates: 3Thus said the LORD; Execute you judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, said the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

A Warning about the Palace

6For thus said the LORD to the king's house of Judah; You are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

7And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

8And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why has the LORD done thus to this great city? 9Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

A Warning about Jehoahaz

10Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

11For thus said the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: 12But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

A Warning about Jehoiakim

13Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uses his neighbor's service without wages, and gives him not for his work;

14That said, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts him out windows; and it is paneled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15Shall you reign, because you close yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? said the LORD.

17But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

18Therefore thus said the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all your lovers are destroyed.

21I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my voice.

22The wind shall eat up all your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.

23O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!

A Warning for Jehoiachin

24As I live, said the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you there; 25And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die. 27But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

30Thus said the LORD, Write you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.