4. For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses — they, their officers, and their people.
5. But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “that this house will become a ruin.”
6. For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:You are like Gilead to Me,or the summit of Lebanon,but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness,uninhabited cities.
7. I will appoint destroyers against you,each with his weapons.They will cut down the choicest of your cedarsand throw them into the fire.
8. “Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city? ’
9. They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped and served other gods.’ ”
10. Do not weep for the dead;do not mourn for him.Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,for he will never return againand see his native land.
11. For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah: “He has left this place — he will never return here again,
12. but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”
13. Woe for the one who builds his palacethrough unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice,who makes his fellow man serve without payand will not give him his wages,
14. who says, “I will build myself a massive palace,with spacious upper rooms.”He will cut windows in it,and it will be paneled with cedarand painted with vermilion.