International Standard Version

King James Bible

1This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and tell him this:

1Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

2Listen to this message from the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officials, and your people who enter these gates.

2And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

3This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place.

3Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

4Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people.

4For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

5But if you don't listen to these words, I swear," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a ruin."'"

5But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

6For this is what the LORD says about the house of the king of Judah, "You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon. Yet I'll surely make you a desert, towns where no one lives.

6For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

7I'll appoint people to destroy you— men with their weapons. They'll cut down some of your choice cedars and incinerate them.

7And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

8"Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, 'Why did the LORD do this to this great city?'

8And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?

9Then people will respond, 'It is because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have bowed down to other gods and served them.'

9Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

10"Don't cry for the dead or grieve for them. Weep bitterly for the one going away, because he won't return again nor see the land of his birth.

10Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

11"For this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Shallum, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah: 'He went out from this place and won't return to it again.

11For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

12He will die in the place where they exiled him, and he won't ever see this land again.'"

12But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

13"How terrible for him who builds his house without righteousness, and its upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing, and does not pay him his wage.

13Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

14How terrible for him who says, 'I'll build a large house for myself with spacious upper rooms, who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it red.'

14That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15Are you a king because you try to outdo everyone with cedar? Your father ate and drank and upheld justice and righteousness, did he not? And then it went well for him.

15Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

16He judged the case of the poor and needy. And then it went well for him. Isn't this what it means to know me?

16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

17But your eyes and heart are on nothing but your dishonest gain, shedding the blood of innocent people, and practicing oppression and extortion."

17But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

18Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, "They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, my brother, How terrible, my sister!' They won't lament for him with these words: 'How terrible, lord, How terrible, your majesty!'

18Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

19He will receive a donkey's burial, dragged out and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem."

19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20Go up to Lebanon and cry out, to Bashan and lift up your voice. Cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

20Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

21I spoke to you when you were secure, but you said, "I won't listen!" This has been your way since your youth, for you haven't obeyed me.

21I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.

22The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into exile. Indeed, you will then be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

22The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

23You who live in Lebanon, who build your nest in the cedars, how you will groan when pains come upon you, pain like that of a woman giving birth.

23O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

24"As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the LORD, "even if Jehoiakim's son King Jehoiachin of Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

24As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

25and give you to those who are trying to kill you, whom you fear—that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

25And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26I'll hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land where you were not born, and there you will die.

26And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

27As for the land to which you want to return, you won't return there!

27But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28"Is this man Jehoiachin a despised and shattered jar, a vessel no one wants? Why were he and his descendants hurled away, thrown into a land that they didn't know?

28Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

29Land, land, land, listen to this message from the LORD!

29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

30This is what the LORD says: 'Write this man off as childless, a man who does not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David, or ever ruling in Judah again.'"

30Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.