A Warning to Judah’s Kings

1Thus said the Lorde, Goe downe to the house of the King of Iudah, and speake there this thing, 2And say, Heare the worde of the Lorde, O King of Iudah, that sittest vpon the throne of Dauid, thou and thy seruants, and thy people that enter in by these gates. 3Thus saith the Lorde, Execute ye iudgement and righteousnes, and deliuer the oppressed from the hande of the oppressor, and vexe not the stranger, the fatherlesse, nor the widowe: doe no violence, nor sheade innocent blood in this place. 4For if ye do this thing, then shall the kings sitting vpon the throne of Dauid enter in by the gates of this House, and ride vpon charets, and vpon horses, both he and his seruants and his people. 5But if ye will not heare these wordes, I sweare by my selfe, saith the Lorde, that this House shalbe waste.

A Warning about the Palace

6For thus hath the Lorde spoken vpon the Kings house of Iudah, Thou art Gilead vnto me, & the head of Lebanon, yet surely I wil make thee a wildernes and as cities not inhabited,

7And I will prepare destroyers against thee, euery one with his weapons, and they shall cut downe thy chiefe cedar trees, and cast them in the fire.

8And many nations shall passe by this citie, and they shall say euery man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lorde done thus vnto this great citie? 9Then shall they answere, Because they haue forsaken the couenant of the Lorde their God, & worshipped other gods, and serued them.

A Warning about Shallum

10Weepe not for the dead, & be not moued for them, but weepe for him that goeth out: for he shall returne no more, nor see his natiue countrey.

11For thus saith ye Lord, As touching Shallum the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah, which reigned for Iosiah his father, which went out of this place, he shall not returne thither, 12But he shall die in the place, whither they haue ledde him captiue, and shall see this lande no more.

A Warning about Jehoiakim

13Wo vnto him that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnesse, and his chambers without equitie: he vseth his neighbour without wages, and giueth him not for his worke.

14He saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers: so he will make him selfe large windowes, and feeling with cedar, and paint them with vermilion.

15Shalt thou reigne, because thou closest thy selfe in cedar? Did not thy father eate and drinke and prosper, when he executed iudgement and iustice?

16When he iudged the cause of the afflicted and the poore, he prospered: was not this because he knewe me, saith the Lorde?

17But thine eyes and thine heart are but only for thy couetousnesse, and for to sheade innocent blood, and for oppression, and for destruction, euen to doe this.

18Therefore thus saith the Lorde against Iehoiakim, the sonne of Iosiah king of Iudah, They shall not lament him, saying, Ah, my brother, or ah, sister: neither shall they mourne for him, saying, Ah, lord, or ah, his glorie.

19He shalbe buryed, as an asse is buryed, euen drawen and cast foorth without the gates of Ierusalem.

20Goe vp to Lebanon, and cry: showte in Bashan and crye by the passages: for all thy louers are destroyed.

21I spake vnto thee when thou wast in prosperitie: but thou saidest, I will not heare: this hath bene thy maner from thy youth, that thou wouldest not obey my voyce.

22The wind shall feede all thy pastors, and thy louers shall goe into captiuitie: and then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded of al thy wickednesse.

23Thou that dwellest in Lebanon, and makest thy nest in the cedars, howe beautiful shalt thou be when sorowes come vpon thee, as the sorowe of a woman in trauaile?

A Warning to Coniah

24As I liue, saith the Lord, though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah, were the signet of my right hand, yet would I plucke thee thence. 25And I will giue thee into the hande of them that seeke thy life, and into the hande of them, whose face thou fearest, euen into the hand of Nebuchad-nezzar king of Babel, and into the hande of the Caldeans. 26And I will cause them to cary thee away, and thy mother that bare thee, into another countrey, where ye were not borne, and there shall ye die. 27But to the lande, whereunto they desire to returne, they shall not returne thither.

28Is not this man Coniah as a despised and broken idole? or as a vessell, wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they caryed away, hee and his seede, and cast out into a lande that they knowe not?

29O earth, earth, earth, heare the worde of the Lorde.

30Thus saith the Lorde, Write this man destitute of children, a man that shall not prosper in his dayes: for there shall be no man of his seede that shall prosper & sit vpon the throne of Dauid, or beare rule any more in Iudah.