1. Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word,
2. and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!
3. Thus says the Lord: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4. For if you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.
5. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” says the Lord, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”
6. For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah:“You are Gilead to Me,The head of Lebanon;Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,Cities which are not inhabited.
7. I will prepare destroyers against you,Everyone with his weapons;They shall cut down your choice cedarsAnd cast them into the fire.
8. And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’
9. Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
10. Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him;Weep bitterly for him who goes away,For he shall return no more,Nor see his native country.
11. For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore,
12. but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13. “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousnessAnd his chambers by injustice,Who uses his neighbor’s service without wagesAnd gives him nothing for his work,
14. Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers,And cut out windows for it,Paneling it with cedarAnd painting it with vermilion.’