1 Thus hath the Lord said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,
2 and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that doth sit upon the throne of David, thou, and thy slaves and thy people that enter in by these gates:
3 Thus hath the Lord said: Execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor and do not deceive, neither steal from the stranger nor from the fatherless nor from the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye effectively obey this word, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house the kings seated by David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his slaves and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, said the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus hath the Lord said regarding the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness and cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will appoint destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars and cast them into the fire.
8 And many Gentiles shall pass by this city, and each man shall say to his neighbour, Why has the Lord done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them.
10 Do not weep for the dead nor bemoan him, but weep sore for him that goes away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country.
11 For thus hath the Lord said of Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, He who went forth out of this place shall not return there any more;
12 but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall see this land no more.
13 Woe unto him that builds his house and not in righteousness and his chambers and not in judgment, using his neighbour’s service without wages and not giving him the wages of his work!
14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts out windows in it and covers it with cedar and anoints it with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou dost enclose thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink and do judgment and righteousness, and then it was well with him?
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Is this not to know me? said the Lord.
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness and for to shed innocent blood and for oppression and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus hath the Lord said concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! and Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan and cry unto all parts: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou didst say, I will not hear. This has been thy way from thy youth, that thou hast never heard my voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confound thyself because of all thy malice.
23 Thou didst inhabit Lebanon, thou didst make thy nest in the cedars. How shalt thou cry out when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck thee from there;
25 and I will give thee into the hand of those that seek thy soul and into the hand of those whose face thou dost fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cast thee out and thy mother that bore thee into another country, where ye were not born, and there ye shall die.
27 But to the land unto which they de sire to return, they shall not return there.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his generation, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30 Thus hath the Lord said, Write what shall be of this man deprived of a generation, a man unto whom nothing shall prosper in all the days of his life, for no man of his seed who sits upon the throne of David and rules over Judah shall prosper.