1These are the words of the LORD: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah with this message:
2King of Judah, occupant of David's throne, listen to the words of the LORD, you and your courtiers and your people who come in at these gates.
3These are the words of the LORD: Deal justly and fairly, rescue the victim from his oppressor, do not ill-treat or use violence towards the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
4If you obey, then kings who succeed to David's throne will come riding through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses, with their retinue of courtiers and subjects.
5But if you do not obey my words, then by myself I solemnly swear, says the LORD, this palace will become a ruin.
6For these are the words of the LORD about the royal house of Judah: Though you are dear to me as Gilead or as the crest of Lebanon, I swear that I shall turn you into a wilderness, a land of towns no longer inhabited.
7I shall consecrate an armed host to fight against you, a destructive horde; they will cut down your choicest cedars, felling them for fuel.
8People of many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, “Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?”
9The answer will be, “Because they forsook their covenant with the LORD their God by worshipping other gods and serving them.”
10Weep not for him who is dead nor lament his loss. Weep rather for him who is going into exile, for he will return no more, never again see the land of his birth.
11For these are the words of the LORD concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father on the throne and has gone from this place: He will never return;
12he will die in the place of his exile without ever seeing this land again.
13Woe betide him who builds his palace on unfairness and completes its roof-chambers with injustice, compelling his countrymen to work without payment, giving them no wage for their labour!
14Woe to him who says, “I shall build myself a spacious palace with airy roof-chambers and windows set in it; it will be panelled with cedar and painted with vermilion.”
15Though your cedar is so splendid, does that prove you a king? Think of your father: he ate and drank, dealt justly and fairly; all went well with him.
16He upheld the cause of the lowly and poor; then all was well. Did not this show he knew me? says the LORD.
17But your eyes and your heart are set on naught but gain, set only on the innocent blood you can shed, on the cruel acts of tyranny you perpetrate.
18Therefore these are the words of the LORD concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: For him no mourner will say, “Alas, brother, dear brother!” no one say, “Alas, lord and master!”
19He will be buried like a dead donkey, dragged along and flung out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20Go up to Lebanon and cry aloud, make your voice heard in Bashan, cry aloud from Abarim, for all who love you are broken.
21I spoke to you in your days of prosperous ease, but you said, “I shall not listen.” Since your youth this is how you have behaved; you have never obeyed me.
22A wind will carry away all your friends; those who love you will go into captivity. Then you will be abashed and put to shame for all your evil deeds.
23You dwellers in Lebanon, nestling among the cedars, how you will groan when pains come on you, like the pangs of a woman in labour!
24By my life, says the LORD, although you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, are the signet ring on my right hand, I shall pull you off
25and hand you over to those who seek your life, to those you fear, to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and to the Chaldaeans.
26I shall fling you headlong, you and the mother who bore you, into another land, not that of your birth, and there you will both die.
27You will never come back to your own land, the land for which you long.
28This man Coniah, then, is he a mere puppet, despised and broken, a thing unwanted? Why else are he and his children flung out headlong and hurled into a country they do not know?
29Land, land, land! Hear the words of the LORD:
30These are the words of the LORD: Write this man down as stripped of all honour, one who in his lifetime will not prosper, nor leave descendants to sit in prosperity on David's throne or rule again over Judah.