New Living Translation

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1This is what the LORD said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,

1This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there.

2‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.

2You are to say: Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David--you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates.

3This is what the LORD says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!

3This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don't exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place.

4If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.

4For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses--they, their officers, and their people.

5But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the LORD, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’” A Message about the Palace

5But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"--this is the LORD's declaration--"that this house will become a ruin."

6Now this is what the LORD says concerning Judah’s royal palace: “I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.

6For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to Me, or the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.

7I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.

7I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.

8“People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD destroy such a great city?’

8"Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, 'Why did the LORD do such a thing to this great city?'

9And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the LORD their God by worshiping other gods.’” A Message about Jehoahaz

9They will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped and served other gods.'"

10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to see his native land again.

10Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.

11For this is what the LORD says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.

11For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah: "He has left this place--he will never return here again,

12He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.” A Message about Jehoiakim

12but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again."

13And the LORD says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim, who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

13Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages,

14He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’

14who says, "I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms." He will cut windows in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

15But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.

15Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him.

16He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the LORD.

16He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me? This is the LORD's declaration.

17“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”

17But you have eyes and a heart for nothing except your own dishonest profit, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression.

18Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah: “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’

18Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, my brother!" or "Woe, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!"

19He will be buried like a dead donkey— dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!

19He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

20Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you.

20Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

21I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood— you simply will not obey me!

21I spoke to you when you were secure. You said, "I will not listen." This has been your way since youth; indeed, you have never listened to Me.

22And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.

22The wind will take charge of all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.

23It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish— anguish like that of a woman in labor. A Message for Jehoiachin

23You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.

24“As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.

24"As I live," says the LORD, "though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it.

25I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.

25In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

26I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.

26I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.

27You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

27They will never return to the land they long to return to."

28“Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?

28Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?

29O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the LORD!

29Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD!

30This is what the LORD says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’

30This is what the LORD says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.