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!
12. He will die where he’s been exiled and never see this land again.
13. How terrible for Jehoiakim, who builds his house with corruptionand his upper chambers with injustice,working his countrymen for nothing,refusing to give them their wages.
14. He says, "I’ll build myself a grand palace,with huge upper chambers,ornate windows,cedar paneling,and rich red decor."
15. Is this what makes you a king,having more cedar than anyone else?Didn’t your father eat and drinkand still do what was just and right?Then it went well for him!
16. He defended the rights of the poor and needy;then it went well.Isn’t that what it means to know me?declares the Lord.
17. But you set your eyes and hearton nothing but unjust gain;you spill the blood of the innocent;you practice cruelty;you oppress your subjects.
18. Therefore, this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Judah’s King Josiah:They won’t grieve for him, saying, "My brother, my sister!"They won’t grieve for him, saying, "My master, my majesty!"
19. They will give him a donkey’s burial,dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalemand dumping him there.
20. Go up to Lebanon and cry out,lift up your voice in Bashan,cry out from Abarim,because all your lovers have been ravished.
21. I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure,but you said, "I won’t listen."You have been that way since your youth:not listening to a word I say.
22. Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind,your lovers taken off to exile.Then you will be embarrassed and humiliatedby all your wickedness.
23. You who live in Lebanon,nestled in cedar,who will pity youwhen you are overcome in pain,like that of childbirth?
24. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah, King Jehoiakim’s son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there.
25. I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.