16. He defended the cause of the poor and needy.Everything went well for him.Isn’t this what it means to know me?” asks the Lord.
17. “But your eyes and your mind are set on nothing but dishonest profits.You kill innocent people and violently oppress your people.”
18. This is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, son of Judah’s King Josiah:People won’t mourn for him and say,“How horrible it is for my brother and sister!”They won’t mourn for him and say,“How horrible it is for my master and his splendor!”
19. He will receive a donkey’s burial.He will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20. “Go to Lebanon and cry! Raise your voice in Bashan!Cry out from Abarim, because all your lovers are defeated.”
21. I spoke to you when you were prosperous,but you said that you wouldn’t listen.This is how you’ve been ever since you were young.You don’t listen to me.
22. The wind will blow away all your shepherds,and your lovers will go into captivity.Then you will be ashamed and disgraced by all your wickedness.
23. You live in Lebanon and have your nest in the cedars.But you will groan when pain strikes you,pain like a woman giving birth to a child.
24. “As I live,” declares the Lord, “even though you, Jehoiakin, son of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, are the signet ring on my right hand, I will pull you off my hand.
25. I will hand you over to those who want to kill you, those you fear—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians.
26. I will throw you and your mother into another land. You weren’t born there, but you will die there.
27. You will want to return to this land, but you won’t be allowed to come home.”