¹ Thus says Yahweh: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there.

² And you must say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter through these gates.

³ Thus says Yahweh, “Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor. And you must not oppress the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots¹ and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

1. Hebrew “chariot”

⁵ But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “that this house will become a site of ruins.” ’ ”

1. Literally “a declaration of”

⁶ For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah, “You are like Gilead to me, like the head of the Lebanon. ⌞Surely⌟¹ I will make you a desert,² like cities that are not inhabited.

1. Literally “If not”
2. Or “wilderness”

⁷ And I will consecrate against you destroyers, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down ⌞your choicest cedars⌟,¹ and cast them² on the fire.

1. Literally “the choicest thing of your cedars”
2. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

⁸ And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, ‘⌞Why⌟¹ has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?’

1. Literally “Over what”

⁹ Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and bowed down in worship to other gods, and served them.’ ”

¹⁰ You must not weep for the dead person, and you must not show sympathy for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.

¹¹ For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned as king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: “He will not return here again.

¹² But in the place where they have deported him, there he will die, and he will not see this land again.

¹³ Woe to the one who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice. His fellow countryman, he works for nothing, and he does not give to him his wages.¹

1. Hebrew “wage”

¹⁴ Who says ‘I will build for myself a spacious house with large upper rooms,’ and he cuts windows for it, and it is¹ paneled with cedar, and he paints it² with vermilion.

1. Here the subject is supplied from context in the English translation
2. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

¹⁵ Do you reign as king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him?

¹⁶ He judged the legal cause of the needy and the poor, and then it was well. ⌞Is that not what it means to know me⌟?¹” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh.

1. Literally “Not that the knowledge me”
2. Literally “a declaration of”

¹⁷ “But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart ⌞except⌟¹ your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion.”

1. Literally “but if”

¹⁸ ⌞Therefore⌟¹ thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: “They will not lament for him, ‘Alas, my brother,’ or ‘Alas, sister.’ They will not lament for him, ‘Alas, lord,’ or ‘alas, his majesty.’

1. Literally “To thus”

¹⁹ He will be buried with the burial of a donkey. He will be¹ dragged away and thrown ⌞outside⌟² the gates of Jerusalem.

1. Here the subject is supplied from context in the English translation
2. Literally “from beyond”

²⁰ Go up to Lebanon and cry out, and in Bashan lift up your voice, and cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are shattered.

²¹ I spoke to you ⌞in the times you were secure⌟,¹ and you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This was your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed my voice.

1. Literally “in your security”

²² All your shepherds will shepherd the wind, and your lovers will go into captivity. Yes, then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

²³ Inhabitants¹ of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the woman who gives birth.

1. Hebrew “Inhabitant”

²⁴ “As I live,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh, “surely if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were the seal on my right hand, surely from there I would wrench you off.

1. Literally “a declaration of”

²⁵ And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you are frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ And I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you to another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

²⁷ As for the land to which they are ⌞longing⌟¹ to return, they will not return.

1. Literally “lifting their inner self”

²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel? Or a vessel in which there is no delight? Why are he and his offspring thrown far, and cast away to the land that they do not know?”

²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the word of Yahweh.

³⁰ Thus says Yahweh: “Record this man as childless, a man who will not succeed in his days, for no man from his offspring will succeed him,¹ sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

1. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation