Jeremiah 22:6–13

⁶ For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited. ⁷ I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire. ⁸ And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ Then people will reply, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’” ¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land. ¹¹ For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return, ¹² but he will die in the place to which he was exiled; he will never see this land again.” ¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,