1This is another message that Yahweh gave to me: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and say this to him:
2‘You are the king of Judah. You are the ruler [MTY], like King David was. You and your officials and your people must listen
3to what Yahweh says: “Act fairly and justly. Do what is right. Help those who have been robbed. Rescue people from those who oppress them. Stop doing evil things. Do not mistreat those who have come here from other countries, and do not mistreat orphans and widows. Stop murdering here in Jerusalem [MTY] those who ◄are innocent/have not done things that are wrong►.
4If you obey those commands carefully, there will always be some descendant of King David who will be ruling here [MTY] in Jerusalem. The king and his officials and other people will ride through the gates of the city in chariots and on horses.
5But if you refuse to pay attention to those commands, I, Yahweh, solemnly declare, with myself [MTY] as a witness, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.” ’ ”
6And this is what Yahweh says about the king’s palace:
7I will summon enemy troops who will destroy this palace;
8People from many nations will walk past the ruins of this city and say to each other, “Why did Yahweh destroy this city that was very great?”
9And other people will reply, “He did it because his people stopped obeying the agreement that they had made with Yahweh their God. Instead, they worshiped [DOU] other gods.”
10Yahweh also says, “Do not mourn for King Josiah;
11Jehoahaz became king after his father, King Josiah, died, but Jehoahaz indeed was captured and taken to Babylonia. And this is what Yahweh says about him: “He also will never return to Judah.
12He will die in that far-away country and will never see his own country again.”
13And Yahweh said to me, “Terrible things will happen to King Jehoahaz’s brother, King Jehoiakim.
14He said, ‘I will force my workers to build a huge beautiful palace
15But it is certainly not [RHQ] having a beautiful cedar palace that causes a king to be great!
16Josiah acted justly/fairly and helped poor and needy people,
17But Jehoiakim, you [MTY] are greedy and desire only to obtain things by acting dishonestly.
18Therefore, this is what Yahweh says about Jehoiakim, the son of King Josiah:
19When he dies, people will do to his corpse what they do to a dead donkey;
20You people of Judah, go to the mountains in Lebanon and weep,
21When you were prosperous, I warned you,
22So, now I will punish all your leaders;
23Now, your king enjoys living in the cedar rooms in his palace,
24Yahweh says this: “Jehoiachin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, as surely as I am alive, I will punish you. Even if you were the ring on my finger that shows that I am the king, I would pull you off.
25You are afraid of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his huge army, because they are wanting to kill you. I will enable them to capture you.
26I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will be taken to another country. Neither of you was born there, but you will both die there.
27You will never return to this land that you will very much desire to return to.”
28Someone said, “Jehoiachin will be [RHQ] like a broken pot
29I want the people in this land to listen carefully to this message from Yahweh.”
30This is what Yahweh says: