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Warning of Jerusalem's Fall

¹ This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word,² and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who ^(C1)sits on David's throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.³ 'This is what the LORD says: "^(C1)Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his ^(C2)oppressor. And ^(C3)do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not ^(C4)shed innocent blood in this place.⁴ "For if you will indeed perform this ^(F1)instruction, then ^(C1)kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting ^(F2)in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people.⁵ "^(C1)But if you will not obey these words, I ^(C2)swear by Myself," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a place of ruins."'"⁶ For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

"You are like ^(C1)Gilead to Me,
Like the summit of Lebanon;
Yet most assuredly I will make you a ^(C2)wilderness,
Cities that are not inhabited.

⁷ "For I will set apart ^(C1)destroyers against you,
Each with his weapons;
And they will ^(C2)cut down your choicest cedars
And ^(C3)throw them on the fire.

⁸ "Many nations will pass by this city; and they will ^(C1)say to one another, 'Why has the LORD done this to this great city?'⁹ "Then they will ^(F1)answer, 'Because they ^(C1)abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'"

^10 (C1)Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him,
But weep deeply for the one who goes away;
For ^(C2)he will never return
Or see his native land.

¹¹ For this is what the LORD says regarding ^(F1)(C1)Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of his father Josiah, who went out from this place: "He will never return there;¹² but in the place where they took him into exile, there he will ^(C1)die and he will not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

¹³ "Woe to him who builds his house ^(C1)without righteousness,
And his upstairs rooms without justice,
Who uses his neighbor's services without pay
And ^(C2)does not give him his wages,

¹⁴ Who says, 'I will ^(C1)build myself a large house
With spacious upstairs rooms,
And cut out its windows,
^(F1)Paneling it with ^(C2)cedar and painting it ^(F2)bright red.'

¹⁵ "Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
Did your father not eat and drink
And ^(C1)do justice and righteousness?
Then it was ^(C2)well for him.

¹⁶ "He pled the cause of the ^(C1)afflicted and the poor,
Then it was well.
^(C2)Is that not what it means to know Me?"
Declares the LORD.

¹⁷ "But your eyes and your heart
Are intent only upon your own ^(C1)dishonest gain,
And on ^(C2)shedding innocent blood,
And on practicing oppression and extortion."

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says regarding ^(C1)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

"They will not ^(C2)mourn for him:
'^(C3)Oh, my brother!' or, 'Oh, sister!'
They will not mourn for him:
'Oh, for the master!' or, 'Oh, for his splendor!'

¹⁹ "He will be ^(C1)buried with a donkey's burial,
Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ "Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
And raise your voice in Bashan;
Cry out also from ^(C1)Abarim,
For all your ^(C2)lovers have been crushed.

²¹ "I spoke to you in your prosperity;
But ^(C1)you said, 'I will not listen!'
^(C2)This has been your way ^(C3)from your youth,
That you have not obeyed My voice.

²² "The wind will sweep away all your ^(C1)shepherds,
And your ^(C2)lovers will go into captivity;
Then you will certainly be ^(C3)ashamed and humiliated
Because of all your wickedness.

²³ "You who live in Lebanon,
Nested in the cedars,
How you will groan when sharp pains come on you,
^(C1)Pain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴ "As I live," declares the LORD, "even if ^(F1)(C1)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a ^(C2)signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull ^(F1)you ^(F2)off;²⁵ and I will ^(C1)hand you over to those who are seeking your life, yes, to those of whom you are frightened, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.²⁶ "I will ^(C1)hurl you and your ^(C2)mother who gave birth to you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.²⁷ "But as for the land to which they long to return, they will not return to it.

²⁸ "Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an ^(C1)undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been ^(C2)hurled out
And cast into a ^(C3)land that they had not known?

²⁹ "^(C1)O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the LORD!