17. “But you only look for and think aboutwhat you can get dishonestly.You are even willing to kill innocent people to get it.You feel free to hurt people and to steal from them.”
18. So this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:“The people of Judah will not cry when Jehoiakim dies,saying: ‘Oh, my brother,’ or ‘Oh, my sister.’They will not cry for him, saying:‘Oh, master,’ or ‘Oh, my king.’
19. They will bury him like a donkey,dragging his body awayand throwing it outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20. “Judah, go up to Lebanon and cry out.Let your voice be heard in Bashan.Cry out from Abarim,because all your friends are destroyed!
21. Judah, when you were successful, I warned you,but you said, ‘I won’t listen.’You have acted like this since you were young;you have not obeyed me.
22. Like a storm, my punishment will blow all your shepherds awayand send your friends into captivity.Then you will really be ashamed and disgracedbecause of all the wicked things you did.
23. King, you live in your palace,cozy in your rooms of cedar.But when your punishment comes, how you will groanlike a woman giving birth to a baby!
24. “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “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. I will hand you over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Babylonians—those people you fear because they want to kill you.
26. I will throw you and your mother into another country. Neither of you was born there, but both of you will die there.
27. They will want to come back, but they will never be able to return.”
28. Jehoiachin is like a broken pot someone threw away;he is like something no one wants.Why will Jehoiachin and his children be thrown outand sent into a foreign land?
29. Land, land, land of Judah,hear the word of the Lord!
30. This is what the Lord says:“Write this down in the record about Jehoiachin:He is a man without children,a man who will not be successful in his lifetime.And none of his descendants will be successful;none will sit on the throne of Davidor rule in Judah.”