| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. | 1This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and tell him this: |
| 2You are to say: Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David--you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. | 2Listen to this message from the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates. |
| 3This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don't exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place. | 3This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place. |
| 4For 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. | 4Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people. |
| 5But 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." | 5But if you don't listen to these words, I swear," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a ruin."'" |
| 6For 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. | 6For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah, "You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon. Yet I'll surely make you a desert, towns where no one lives. |
| 7I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire. | 7I'll appoint people to destroy you— men with their weapons. They'll cut down some of your choice cedars and incinerate them. |
| 8"Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, 'Why did the LORD do such a thing to this great city?' | 8"Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, 'Why did the LORD do this to this great city?' |
| 9They will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped and served other gods.'" | 9Then people will respond, 'It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.' |
| 10Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land. | 10"Don't cry for the dead or grieve for them. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he won't return again nor see the land of his birth. |
| 11For 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, | 11"For this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: 'He went out from this place and won't return to it again. |
| 12but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again." | 12He will die in the place where they exiled him, and he won't ever see this land again.'" |
| 13Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages, | 13"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage. |
| 14who says, "I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms." He will cut windows in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion. | 14How terrible for him who says, 'I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.' |
| 15Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him. | 15Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him. |
| 16He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me? This is the LORD's declaration. | 16He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me? |
| 17But you have eyes and a heart for nothing except your own dishonest profit, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression. | 17But your eyes and heart are on nothing but your dishonest gain, shedding the blood of innocent people, and practicing oppression and extortion." |
| 18Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, my brother!" or "Woe, my sister!" They will not mourn for him, saying, "Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!" | 18Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, "They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!' They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!' |
| 19He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. | 19He will receive a donkey's burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem." |
| 20Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed. | 20Go up to Lebanon and cry out, to Bashan and lift up your voice. Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed. |
| 21I spoke to you when you were secure. You said, "I will not listen." This has been your way since youth; indeed, you have never listened to Me. | 21I spoke to you when you were secure, but you said, "I won't listen!" This has been your way since your youth, for you haven't obeyed me. |
| 22The wind will take charge of all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil. | 22The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into exile. Indeed, you will then be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. |
| 23You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor. | 23You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth. |
| 24"As I live," says the LORD, "though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it. | 24"As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the LORD, "even if Jehoiakim's son King Jehoiachin of Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off |
| 25In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. | 25and give you to those who are trying to kill you, whom you fear—that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Chaldeans. |
| 26I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die. | 26I'll hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die. |
| 27They will never return to the land they long to return to." | 27As for the land to which you want to return, you won't return there! |
| 28Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known? | 28"Is this man Jehoiachin a despised and shattered jar, a vessel no one wants? Why were he and his descendants hurled away, thrown into a land that they didn't know? |
| 29Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD! | 29Land, land, land, listen to this message from the LORD! |
| 30This is what the LORD says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. | 30This is what the LORD says: 'Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'" |
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