1. Thus says the Lord: "Descend to the house of the king of Judah, and there you shall speak this word.
2. And you shall say: Listen to the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David: you and your servants, and your people, who enter through these gates.
3. Thus says the Lord: Exercise judgment and justice, and free anyone who is oppressed by violence from the hand of a false accuser. And do not be willing to sadden the new arrival, or the orphan, or the widow, nor should you burden them unfairly. And you shall not shed innocent blood in this place.
4. For if you will indeed accomplish this word, then there will enter through the gates of this house kings from the stock of David, sitting on his throne, and riding on chariots and on horses: they, and their servants, and their people.
5. But if you will not listen to these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house will be in desolation.
6. For thus says the Lord about the house of the king of Judah: You are to me like Gilead, the head of Lebanon. Certainly, I will make you desolate, with uninhabitable cities.
7. And I will sanctify over you the destroying man and his weapons. And they will cut down your select cedars and throw them violently into the fire.
8. And many nations will pass through this city. And each one will say to his neighbor: 'Why has the Lord acted in this way toward this great city?'
9. And they will answer: 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and they adored strange gods and served them.'