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

² And 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 by these gates:

³ Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste 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.

⁴ For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter, 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.

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

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

⁷ And 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 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why hath the LORD done thus to this great city?

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁵ Shalt 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?

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

¹⁷ But thy eyes and thy heart are only for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

¹⁸ Therefore 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!

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

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

²¹ I spoke to thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidest, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou hast not obeyed my voice.

²² The 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.

²³ O 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 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;

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, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

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

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

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

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

³⁰ Thus 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.

¹ Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

² And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD'S house.

³ And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

⁴ Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

⁵ And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

⁶ And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

⁷ Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt-offerings, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt-offerings, and the meat-offerings, and the fat.

⁸ Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath to the river of Egypt.

⁹ And on the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

¹⁰ And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

¹² And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.

¹³ If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

¹⁴ If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

¹⁵ Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

¹⁶ For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

¹⁷ And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments;

¹⁸ Then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

¹⁹ But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;

²⁰ Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a by-word among all nations.

²¹ And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus to this land, and to this house?

²² And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.