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For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah: "You are Gilead to Me, The head of Lebanon; Yet I surely will make you a wilderness, Cities which are not inhabited.
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I will prepare destroyers against you, Everyone with his weapons; They shall cut down your choice cedars And cast them into the fire.
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And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, 'Why has the Lord done so to this great city?'
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Then they will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.' "
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Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him; Weep bitterly for him who goes away, For he shall return no more, Nor see his native country.
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For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: "He shall not return here anymore,
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but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
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"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without wages And gives him nothing for his work,
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Who says, 'I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, And cut out windows for it, Paneling it with cedar And painting it with vermilion.'
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"Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, And do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
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He judged the cause of the poor and needy; Then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?" says the Lord.