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¹ Thus said Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,² And say, Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, that sit on the throne of David, you, and your slaves, and your people that enter in by these gates.³ Thus says Yahweh: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.⁴ For if you do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his slaves, and his people.⁵ But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Yahweh, that this house shall become a desolation.⁶ For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon; [yet] surely I will make you a wilderness, [and] cities which are not inhabited.⁷ And 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.⁸ And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why has Yahweh done thus to this great city?⁹ Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.

¹⁰ Don't weep for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep intensely for him that goes away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.¹¹ For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, [and] who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there anymore.¹² But in the place where they have led him captive, there he shall die, and he shall see this land no more.¹³ Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that uses his neighbor's service without wages, and does not give him his wages;¹⁴ that says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts him out many windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.¹⁵ Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not 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; then it was well. Wasn't this the knowledge of me? says Yahweh.¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.¹⁸ Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of 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!¹⁹ He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed.²¹ I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you didn't obey my voice.²² The wind shall feed all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you shall 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, yet would I pluck you from there;²⁵ and I will give you into the hand of those that seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.²⁶ And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you shall die.²⁷ But to the land to where their soul longs to return, they shall not return there.²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein none delights? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they don't know?²⁹ O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Yahweh.³⁰ Thus says Yahweh, Write this man childless, a [prominent] man that shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.