1An exhortation to the king's house to execute justice without oppression, enforced with promises and threats. 10The judgment of Shallum, 13of Jehoiakim, 20and of Coniah.
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1Thus saith the Lord; 1Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2And say, 1Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
3Thus saith the Lord; 1Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence 2to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4For 1if ye do this thing indeed, 2then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting aupon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5But 1if ye will not hear these words, I swear 2by myself, saith the Lord, that 3this house shall become a desolation.
6For thus saith the Lord unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely 1I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
7And 1I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: 2and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8And 1many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?
9Then 1they shall answer, 2Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10¶ 1Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for 2him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11For thus saith the Lord touching 1Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
12But he shall die 1in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13¶ 1Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that2useth his neighbour's service 3without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
14That saith, 1I will build me a wide house and alarge chambers, and cutteth him out bwindows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and 1do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was1not this to know me? saith the Lord.
17But 1thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, 2and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for aviolence, to do it.
18Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning 1Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! 2they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19He 1shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20¶ Go up to 1Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from athe passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21I spake unto thee in thy aprosperity; but1thou saidst, I will not hear. 2This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22The 1wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then 2shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23O ainhabitant of Lebanon, that 1makest thy nest in the cedars, 2how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24as1I live, saith the Lord, though 2Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were 3the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
25And I 1will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26And I will 1cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27But to the land whereunto they adesire to return, 1thither shall they not return.
28is this man Coniah 1a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, 2he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29O 1earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30Thus saith the Lord, 1Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for 2no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.