5. But if you ignore these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this palace will become a ruin.
6. The Lord proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah:Though you are like Gilead to me,like the summit of Lebanon,I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.
7. I will summon destroyers against you,who will use their weaponsto cut down your finest cedarsand hurl them into the fire.
8. People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: "Why has the Lord treated that great city like this?"
9. And the answer will be, "Because they abandoned the covenant with the Lord their God and worshipped and served other gods."
10. Don’t weep or lament for the dead king.Weep instead for the one who has gone away,for he will never return to see his native soil.
11. This is what the Lord says about Shallum son of Judah’s King Josiah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king but who is now gone from this place: He will never return!