Judgment Against Three Evil Kings
221This is what the Lord says.
Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and speak this message there.
2Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on David's throne—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates.
3This is what the Lord says. Do what is just and right. Rescue the person who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, to the fatherless, or to the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4If you diligently carry this out, then kings who sit on David's throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. 5But if you will not obey these words, then I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house will become a ruin.
6Yes, this is what the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah.
You are like Gilead to me,
like the peak of Lebanon.
You can be sure that I will turn you into a wilderness,
like uninhabited towns.
7I will send destroyers against you,
each of them with his weapons.
They will cut down your best cedars,
and they will throw them into the fire.
8Many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, “Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?” 9And the answer will be, “It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods and served them.”
A Message About Shallum
10Do not weep for the dead.
Do not mourn for him,
but weep bitterly for the one who is exiled,
because he will never return.
He will never see the land of his birth.
11For this is what the Lord says about Shallum[] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah. He has gone out from this place, but he will never return again. 12He will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will never see this land again. A Message About Jehoiakim
13Woe to him who builds his house through unrighteousness
and his roof with injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
and does not pay them,
14who says, “I will build a huge mansion for myself
with spacious upper rooms.”
He makes large windows for it,
panels it with cedar,
and paints it red.
15Does it make you a king when you are extravagant with cedar?
Didn't your father eat and drink,
and do what was just and right?
Then it went well for him.
16He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and it went well.
Isn't this what it means to know me? declares the Lord.
17But your eyes and your heart are greedy for gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
for oppression, and committing violence.
18Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning
Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They will not mourn for him,
“Oh, my brother! Oh, my sister!”
They will not mourn for him,
“Oh, my master! Oh, his glory!”
19He will be buried with the burial of a donkey—
dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20Go up to Lebanon and cry out.
Lift your voice in Bashan.
Cry out from Abarim,
because all your lovers have been destroyed.
21I spoke to you when you were at peace,
but you said “I will not listen.”
This has been your way since your youth.
You have never listened to me.
22Your shepherds will be herded by the wind.
Your lovers will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.
23You who live in Lebanon,
you who make your nest in the cedars,
how you will groan when pains come upon you,
pains like those of a woman in labor!
