4. If you do what I say, then the kings who sit on David’s throne will ride through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses along with their officials and their people.
5. But if you don’t do what I say, I will take an oath on myself,” declares the Lord, “that this palace will become a pile of rubble.
6. “This is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah:This palace is like Gilead to me,like the top of Lebanon.I will certainly turn it into a desert,into cities that no one lives in.
7. I will send people to destroy you.They will have their own weapons.They will cut down your finest cedar treesand throw them on a fire.
8. “People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this important city?’
9. The answer will be: ‘They rejected the promise of the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
10. Don’t cry for the dead.Don’t shake your heads at them.Cry bitterly for those who are taken away,because they won’t come back to see their homeland.
11. This is what the Lord says about King Josiah’s son Shallum, who succeeded his father as king of Judah and left this place: He will never come back here again.
12. He will die in the place where he was taken captive, and he will never see this land again.
13. “How horrible it will be for the person who builds his house dishonestlyand his upper rooms through injustice.He makes his neighbors work for nothingand doesn’t pay them for their work.
14. He says, ‘I will build a large house for myself with big upper rooms.’He cuts out windows in it,panels the rooms with cedar,and paints them red.
15. Do you think you’re a better king than othersbecause you use more cedar?Your father ate and drank and did what is fair and right.Everything went well for him.