1Thus says Yahuah (LORD); Go down to the house of the king of Yahudah (Judah), and speak there this word,
2And say, Hear the word of Yahuah (LORD), O king of Yahudah (Judah), that sit upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates:
3Thus says Yahuah (LORD); Execute you judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahuah (LORD), that this house shall become a desolation.
6For thus says Yahuah (LORD) unto the king’s house of Yahudah (Judah); You are Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
7And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore has Yahuah (LORD) done thus unto this great city?
9Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Yahuah (LORD) their Elohim (God), and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10Weep you not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11For thus says Yahuah (LORD) touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Yahudah (Judah), which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
12But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13Woe unto him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and gives him not for his work;
14That says, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15Shall you reign, because you closest thyself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says Yahuah (LORD).
17But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18Therefore thus says Yahuah (LORD) concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Yahudah (Judah); They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all your lovers are destroyed.
21I spake unto you in your prosperity; but you saidst, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyedst not my voice.
22The wind shall eat up all your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.
23O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24As I live, says Yahuah (LORD), though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Yahudah (Judah) were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you thence;
25And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26And I will cast you out, and your mother that bare you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die.
27But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
28Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Yahuah (LORD).
30Thus says Yahuah (LORD), Write you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Yahudah (Judah).