New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah. Say to him,
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God's orders: "Go to the royal palace and deliver this Message.
2 ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you king of Judah, sitting on David’s throne. Let your attendants and your people listen, too.
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Say, 'Listen to what God says, O King of Judah, you who sit on David's throne - you and your officials and all the people who go in and out of these palace gates.
3 This is what the LORD says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!
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This is God's Message: Attend to matters of justice. Set things right between people. Rescue victims from their exploiters. Don't take advantage of the homeless, the orphans, the widows. Stop the murdering!
4 If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his parade of attendants and subjects.
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"'If you obey these commands, then kings who follow in the line of David will continue to go in and out of these palace gates mounted on horses and riding in chariots - they and their officials and the citizens of Judah.
5 But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the LORD, that this palace will become a pile of rubble.’”
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But if you don't obey these commands, then I swear - God's Decree! - this palace will end up a heap of rubble.'"
6 Now this is what the LORD says concerning Judah’s royal palace: “I love you as much as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon. But I will turn you into a desert, with no one living within your walls.
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This is God's verdict on Judah's royal palace: "I number you among my favorite places - like the lovely hills of Gilead, like the soaring peaks of Lebanon. Yet I swear I'll turn you into a wasteland, as empty as a ghost town.
7 I will call for wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.
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I'll hire a demolition crew, well-equipped with sledgehammers and wrecking bars, Pound the country to a pulp and burn it all up.
8 “People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, ‘Why did the LORD destroy such a great city?’
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"Travelers from all over will come through here and say to one another, 'Why would God do such a thing to this wonderful city?'
9 And the answer will be, ‘Because they violated their covenant with the LORD their God by worshiping other gods.’”
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They'll be told, 'Because they walked out on the covenant of their God, took up with other gods and worshiped them.'" Building a Fine House but Destroying Lives
10 Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to see his native land again.
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Don't weep over dead King Josiah. Don't waste your tears. Weep for his exiled son: He's gone for good. He'll never see home again.
11 For this is what the LORD says about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was taken away as a captive: “He will never return.
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For this is God's Word on Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah: "He's gone from here, gone for good.
12 He will die in a distant land and will never again see his own country.”
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He'll die in the place they've taken him to. He'll never see home again."
13 And the LORD says, “What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim, who builds his palace with forced labor. He builds injustice into its walls, for he makes his neighbors work for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.
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"Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people, who makes a fine house but destroys lives, Who cheats his workers and won't pay them for their work,
14 He says, ‘I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows. I will panel it throughout with fragrant cedar and paint it a lovely red.’
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Who says, 'I'll build me an elaborate mansion with spacious rooms and fancy windows. I'll bring in rare and expensive woods and the latest in interior decor.'
15 But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.
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So, that makes you a king - living in a fancy palace? Your father got along just fine, didn't he? He did what was right and treated people fairly, And things went well with him.
16 He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the LORD .
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He stuck up for the down-and-out, And things went well for Judah. Isn't this what it means to know me?" God's Decree!
17 “But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.”
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"But you're blind and brainless. All you think about is yourself, Taking advantage of the weak, bulldozing your way, bullying victims."
18 Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah: “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’
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This is God's epitaph on Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: "Doom to this man! Nobody will shed tears over him, 'Poor, poor brother!' Nobody will shed tears over him, 'Poor, poor master!'
19 He will be buried like a dead donkey— dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!
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They'll give him a donkey's funeral, drag him out of the city and dump him. You've Made a Total Mess of Your Life
20 Weep for your allies in Lebanon. Shout for them in Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you.
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"People of Jerusalem, climb a Lebanon peak and weep, climb a Bashan mountain and wail, Climb the Abarim ridge and cry - you've made a total mess of your life.
21 I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood— you simply will not obey me!
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I spoke to you when everything was going your way. You said, 'I'm not interested.' You've been that way as long as I've known you, never listened to a thing I said.
22 And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.
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All your leaders will be blown away, all your friends end up in exile, And you'll find yourself in the gutter, disgraced by your evil life.
23 It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish— anguish like that of a woman in labor.
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You big-city people thought you were so important, thought you were 'king of the mountain'! You're soon going to be doubled up in pain, pain worse than the pangs of childbirth.
24 “As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.
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"As sure as I am the living God" - God's Decree - "even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, I'd pull you off
25 I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you so desperately fear—to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylonian army.
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and give you to those who are out to kill you, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans,
26 I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land.
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and then throw you, both you and your mother, into a foreign country, far from your place of birth. There you'll both die.
27 You will never again return to the land you yearn for.
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"You'll be homesick, desperately homesick, but you'll never get home again."
28 “Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar? Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?
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Is Jehoiachin a leaky bucket, a rusted-out pail good for nothing? Why else would he be thrown away, he and his children, thrown away to a foreign place?
29 O earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the LORD !
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O land, land, land, listen to God's Message!
30 This is what the LORD says: ‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’
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This is God's verdict: "Write this man off as if he were childless, a man who will never amount to anything. Nothing will ever come of his life. He's the end of the line, the last of the kings.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.