Jeremiah (The Book of )

Thus says the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O King of Judah, who sit on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.

Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people.

But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "'You are as Gilead to me, as the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.

I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choicest cedars, and cast them into the fire.

"'And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, "Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?"