A Warning for Judah's Kings

1Thus saith the Lord; Go thou, and go down to the house of the king of Juda, and thou shalt speak there this word, 2and thou shalt say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Juda, that sittest on the throne of David, thou, and thy house, and thy people, and they that go in at these gates: 3thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and justice, and rescue the spoiled out of the hand of him that wrongs him: and oppress not the stranger, and orphan, and widow, and sin not, and shed no innocent blood in this place. 4For if ye will indeed perform this word, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, and riding on chariots and horses, they, and their servants, and their people. 5But if ye will not perform these words, by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that this house shall be brought to desolation.

A Warning about the Palace

6For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of the king of Juda; Thou art Galaad to me, and the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a desert, even cities that shall not be inhabited:

7and I will bring upon thee a destroying man, and his axe: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

8And nations shall pass through this city, and each shall say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done thus to this great city? 9And they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped strange gods, and served them.

A Warning about Jehoahaz

10Weep not for the dead, nor lament for him: weep bitterly for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native land.

11For thus saith the Lord concerning Sellem the son of Josias, who reigns in the place of Josias his father, who has gone forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: 12but in that place whither I have carried him captive, there shall he die, and shall see this land no more.

A Warning about Jehoiakim

13He that builds his house not with justice, and his upper chambers not with judgment, who works by means of his neighbour for nothing, and will by no means give him his reward.

14Thou hast built for thyself a well-proportioned house, airy chambers, fitted with windows, and wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15Shalt thou reign, because thou art provoked with thy father Achaz? they shall not eat, and they shall not drink: it is better for thee to execute judgment and justice.

16They understood not, they judged not the cause of the afflicted, nor the cause of the poor: is not this thy not knowing me? saith the Lord.

17Behold, thine eyes are not good, nor thine heart, but they go after thy covetousness, and after the innocent blood to shed it, and after acts of injustice and slaughter, to commit them.

18Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim son of Josias, king of Juda, even concerning this man; they shall not bewail him, saying, Ah brother! neither shall they at all weep for him, saying, Alas Lord.

19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass; he shall be dragged roughly along and cast outside the gate of Jerusalem.

20Go up to Libanus, and cry; and utter thy voice to Basan, and cry aloud to the extremity of the sea: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

21I spoke to thee on occasion of thy trespass, but thou saidst, I will not hearken. This has been thy way from thy youth, thou hast not hearkened to my voice.

22The wind shall tend all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; for then shalt thou be ashamed and disgraced because of all thy lovers.

23O thou that dwellest in Libanus, making thy nest in the cedars, thou shalt groan heavily, when pangs as of a travailing woman are come upon thee.

A Warning for Jehoiachin

24As I live, saith the Lord, though Jechonias son of Joakim king of Juda were indeed the seal upon my right hand, thence would I pluck thee; 25and I will deliver thee into the hands of them that seek thy life, before whom thou art afraid, into the hands of the Chaldeans. 26And I will cast forth thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a land where thou wast not born; and there ye shall die. 27But they shall by no means return to the land which they long for in their souls.

28Jechonias is dishonoured as a good-for-nothing vessel; for he is thrown out and cast forth into a land which he knew not.

29Land, land, hear the word of the Lord.

30Write ye this man an outcast: for there shall none of his seed at all grow up to sit on the throne of David, or as a prince yet in Juda.