New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there:
1
Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and there thou shalt speak this word,
2 ‘Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.
2
And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Juda, that sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people, who enter in by these gates.
3 This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
3
Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and justice, and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and shed not innocent blood in this place.
4 For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people.
4
For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants, and their people.
5 But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’ ”
5
But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a wasteland, like towns not inhabited.
6
For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities not habitable.
7 I will send destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut up your fine cedar beams and throw them into the fire.
7
And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into the fire.
8 “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
8
And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?
9 And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’ ”
9
And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.
10 Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again.
10
Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears: lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will never return.
11
For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall return hither no more:
12 He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”
12
But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land any more.
13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.
13
Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages.
14 He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.
14
Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers: who openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them with vermilion.
15 “Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.
15
Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it was then well with him?
16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.
16
He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
17 “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
17
But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.
18 Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
18
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and, Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or, Alas, the noble one.
19 He will have the burial of a donkey— dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”
19
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed.
20
Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.
21
I spoke to thee in thy prosperity: and thou saidst: I will not hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard my voice.
22 The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.
22
The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy wickedness.
23 You who live in ‘Lebanon, ’ who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!
23
Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars, how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a woman in labour?
24 “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.
24
As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
25 I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Babylonians.
25
And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die.
26
And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
27 You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”
27
And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up their mind to return thither.
28 Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?
28
Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
29
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
30 This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”
30
Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.