| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1The LORD told me, "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there. | 1This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and tell him this: |
| 2Say: 'Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David's succession. You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to what the LORD says. | 2Listen to this message from the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates. |
| 3The LORD says, "Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land. | 3This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place. |
| 4If you are careful to obey these commands, then the kings who follow in David's succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to come through the gates of this palace, as will their officials and their subjects. | 4Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people. |
| 5But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the LORD, affirm it!" | 5But if you don't listen to these words, I swear," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a ruin."'" |
| 6"'For the LORD says concerning the palace of the king of Judah, "This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted. | 6For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah, "You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon. Yet I'll surely make you a desert, towns where no one lives. |
| 7I will send men against it to destroy it with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire. | 7I'll appoint people to destroy you— men with their weapons. They'll cut down some of your choice cedars and incinerate them. |
| 8"'People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, "Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?" | 8"Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, 'Why did the LORD do this to this great city?' |
| 9The answer will come back, "It is because they broke their covenant with the LORD their God and worshiped and served other gods." | 9Then people will respond, 'It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.' |
| 10"'Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. | 10"Don't cry for the dead or grieve for them. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he won't return again nor see the land of his birth. |
| 11"'For the LORD has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, "He will never return to this land. | 11"For this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: 'He went out from this place and won't return to it again. |
| 12For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again." | 12He will die in the place where they exiled him, and he won't ever see this land again.'" |
| 13"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor. | 13"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage. |
| 14He says, "I will build myself a large palace with spacious upper rooms." He cuts windows in its walls, panels it with cedar, and paints its rooms red. | 14How terrible for him who says, 'I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.' |
| 15Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him. | 15Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him. |
| 16He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.' The LORD says, 'That is a good example of what it means to know me.' | 16He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me? |
| 17But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression. | 17But your eyes and heart are on nothing but your dishonest gain, shedding the blood of innocent people, and practicing oppression and extortion." |
| 18So the LORD has this to say about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, "This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!" | 18Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, "They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!' They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!' |
| 19He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey. His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.'" | 19He will receive a donkey's burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem." |
| 20People of Jerusalem, go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. For your allies have all been defeated. | 20Go up to Lebanon and cry out, to Bashan and lift up your voice. Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed. |
| 21While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. But you said, "I refuse to listen to you." That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. Indeed, you have never paid attention to me. | 21I spoke to you when you were secure, but you said, "I won't listen!" This has been your way since your youth, for you haven't obeyed me. |
| 22My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! Your allies will go into captivity. Then you will certainly be disgraced and put to shame because of all the wickedness you have done. | 22The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into exile. Indeed, you will then be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. |
| 23You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. | 23You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth. |
| 24The LORD says, "As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you. | 24"As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the LORD, "even if Jehoiakim's son King Jehoiachin of Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off |
| 25I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian soldiers. | 25and give you to those who are trying to kill you, whom you fear—that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Chaldeans. |
| 26I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there. | 26I'll hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die. |
| 27You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!" | 27As for the land to which you want to return, you won't return there! |
| 28This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away. He will be like a clay vessel that no one wants. Why will he and his children be forced into exile? Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? | 28"Is this man Jehoiachin a despised and shattered jar, a vessel no one wants? Why were he and his descendants hurled away, thrown into a land that they didn't know? |
| 29O land of Judah, land of Judah, land of Judah! Listen to what the LORD has to say! | 29Land, land, land, listen to this message from the LORD! |
| 30The LORD says, "Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah." | 30This is what the LORD says: 'Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'" |
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