¹⁸ Tell this to the king and the queen mother [^Lperhaps Jehoiachin and his mother Nehushta who went into exile in 597 bc (22:26; 29:2; 2 Kin. 24:8–17)]
    “Come down from your thrones,
because your ·beautiful [splendid; glorious] crowns
    ·have fallen [or will fall] from your heads.”
¹⁹ The cities of ·southern Judah [^Lthe Negev] are ·locked [shut] up,
    and no one can open them.
All Judah will be ·taken as captives to a foreign land [exiled; ^Cto Babylon];
    they will ·be carried away [exiled] completely [^Cthe exile in 597 bc was a precursor to the more complete one in 586 bc].