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22 Yahweh said, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word, there: ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, his servants, and his people. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says Yahweh, “that this house will become a desolation.”’”

For Yahweh says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are Gilead to me,
    the head of Lebanon.
Yet surely I will make you a wilderness,
    cities which are not inhabited.
I will prepare destroyers against you,
    everyone with his weapons,
and they will cut down your choice cedars,
    and cast them into the fire.

“Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbor, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, worshiped other gods, and served them.’”

10 Don’t weep for the dead.
    Don’t bemoan him;
but weep bitterly for him who goes away,
    for he will return no more,
    and not see his native country.

11 For Yahweh says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He won’t return there any more. 12 But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.”

13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
    and his rooms by injustice;
who uses his neighbor’s service without wages,
    and doesn’t give him his hire;
14 who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’
    and cuts out windows for himself;
with a cedar ceiling,
    and painted with red.

15 “Should you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar?
    Didn’t your father eat and drink,
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    so it was well, then.
Wasn’t this to know me?”
    says Yahweh.
17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness,
    for shedding innocent blood,
    for oppression, and for doing violence.”

18 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

“They won’t lament for him,
    saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’
They won’t lament for him,
    saying ‘Ah lord!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,
    drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry.
    Lift up your voice in Bashan,
and cry from Abarim;
    for all your lovers have been destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity;
    but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
    that you didn’t obey my voice.
22 The wind will feed all your shepherds,
    and your lovers will go into captivity.
Surely then you will be ashamed
    and confounded for all your wickedness.
23 Inhabitant of Lebanon,
    who makes your nest in the cedars,
how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you,
    the pain as of a woman in travail!

24 “As I live,” says Yahweh, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there. 25 I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die. 27 But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.”

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel?
    Is he a vessel in which no one delights?
Why are they cast out, he and his offspring,
    and cast into a land which they don’t know?
29 O earth, earth, earth,
    hear Yahweh’s word!
30 Yahweh says,
    “Record this man as childless,
    a man who will not prosper in his days;
for no more will a man of his offspring prosper,
    sitting on David’s throne,
    and ruling in Judah.”

A Message for Judah’s Kings

22 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too. This 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! If 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. But 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

Now 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.
I 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.

“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?’ And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the Lord their God by worshiping other gods.’”

A Message about Jehoahaz

10 Do 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.

11 For this is what the Lord says about Jehoahaz,[a] who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return. 12 He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”

A Message about Jehoiakim

13 And the Lord says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim,[b]
    who builds his palace with forced labor.[c]
He builds injustice into its walls,
    for he makes his neighbors work for nothing.
    He does not pay them for their labor.
14 He 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.’
15 But 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.
16 He 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.
17 “But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty!
    You murder the innocent,
    oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”

18 Therefore, 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!’
19 He will be buried like a dead donkey—
    dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!
20 Weep for your allies in Lebanon.
    Shout for them in Bashan.
Search for them in the regions east of the river.[d]
    See, they are all destroyed.
    Not one is left to help you.
21 I 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!
22 And 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.
23 It 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

24 “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin[e] son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25 I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar[f] of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian[g] army. 26 I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land. 27 You will never again return to the land you yearn for.

28 “Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar?
    Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?
29 O earth, earth, earth!
    Listen to this message from the Lord!
30 This 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.’

Footnotes

  1. 22:11 Hebrew Shallum, another name for Jehoahaz.
  2. 22:13a The brother and successor of the exiled Jehoahaz. See 22:18.
  3. 22:13b Hebrew by unrighteousness.
  4. 22:20 Or in Abarim.
  5. 22:24 Hebrew Coniah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin; also in 22:28.
  6. 22:25a Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar.
  7. 22:25b Or Chaldean.