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Thus says the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,
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and say, 1'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.
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Thus says the LORD: 2Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And 3do no wrong or violence 4to the resident alien, 5the fatherless, and the widow, nor 6shed innocent blood in this place.
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For if you will indeed obey this word, 7then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people.
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But if you will not obey these words, I 8swear by myself, declares the LORD, that 9this house shall become a desolation.
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For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "'You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of 10Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, 11an uninhabited city.a
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12I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, 13and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.
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"'And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, 14"Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?"
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15And they will answer, "Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them."'"
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16Weep not for him who is dead, nor grieve for him, 17but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
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For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and 18who went away from this place: "He shall return here no more,
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but 19in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again."
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20"Woe to him who builds his house by 21unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, 22who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,
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who says, 'I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,' who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and 23painting it with vermilion.
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Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and 24do justice and righteousness? 25Then it was well with him.
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26He judged the cause of the poor and needy; 27then it was well. Is not this 28to know me? declares the LORD.
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But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, 29for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence."
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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 30"They shall not lament for him, saying, 31'Ah, my brother!' or 'Ah, sister!' They shall not lament for him, saying, 32'Ah, lord!' or 'Ah, his majesty!'
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With the burial of a donkey 33he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem."
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"Go up to Lebanon, and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan; cry out from 34Abarim, for all 35your lovers are destroyed.
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I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen.' 36This has been your way from 37your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.
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38The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and 39your lovers shall go into captivity; 40then you will be ashamed and confounded because of all your evil.
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O inhabitant of 41Lebanon, nested among the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, 42pain as of a woman in labor!"
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43"As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were 44the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off
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and 45give you 46into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
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47I will hurl you and 48the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die.
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But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)