21. “Judah, you felt safe, but I warned you. I warned you, but you refused to listen. You have lived like this from the time you were young. And from the time you were young, you have not obeyed me, Judah.
22. Judah, the punishment I give will come like a storm, and it will blow all your shepherds away. You thought some of the other nations would help you. But these nations will also be defeated. Then you will really be disappointed. You will be ashamed of all the evil things you did.
23. “King, you seem so safe in your palace of cedar. It’s as if you live in Lebanon! But when your punishment comes, you will groan. You will be in pain like a woman giving birth!”
24. “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will do this to you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah: Even if you were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.
25. Jehoiachin, I will give you to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians. Those are the people you are afraid of. They want to kill you.
26. I will throw you and your mother into another country where neither of you was born. You and your mother will die in that country.
27. Jehoiachin, you will want to come back to your land, but you will never be allowed to come back.”