Daily Mass Readings for August 04, 2026: Gospel — Mt 15,1-2.10-14

¹ The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ² “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. 1 2 :¹ Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives? ² You plant them like trees, and they put down their roots. They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ But you, Lord, know all about me. You watch me and test my devotion to you. Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered! Appoint a time when they will be killed! ⁴ How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast, “God will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ The Lord answered, “If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only in safe and open country, how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? ⁶ As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you as well. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you. ⁷ “I will abandon my nation. I will forsake the people I call my own. I will turn my beloved people over to the power of their enemies. ⁸ The people I call my own have turned on me like a lion in the forest. They have roared defiantly at me, so I will treat them as though I hate them. ⁹ The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas. But other birds of prey are all around them. Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts. Let them come and destroy these people I call my own. 1 ⁰ Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people. They will trample all over my chosen land. They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wilderness. 1 ¹ They will lay it waste. It will lie parched and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste, but no one living in it will pay any heed. 1 ² A destructive army will come marching over the hilltops in the wilderness. For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon against everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe. 1 ³ My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger. 1 ⁴ “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning the wicked nations who surround my land and have attacked and plundered the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession. I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their land, and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there. 1 ⁵ But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country. 1 ⁶ But they must make sure to learn to follow the religious practices of my people. Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” If they do these things, then they will be included among the people I call my own. 1 ⁷ But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord. 1 3 :¹ The Lord said to me, “Go and buy some linen shorts and put them on. Do not put them in water.” ² So I bought the shorts in keeping with the Lord’s instructionsand put them on. ³ Then the Lord’s message came to me again, ⁴ “Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing and go at once to Perath. Bury the shorts there in a crack in the rocks.” ⁵ So I went and buried them at Perath as the Lord had ordered me to do. ⁶ Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get the shorts I ordered you to bury there.” ⁷ So I went to Perath and dug up the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found that they were ruined; they were good for nothing. ⁸ Then the Lord’s message came to me, ⁹ “I, the Lord, say: ‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride. 1 ⁰ These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So they will become just like these linen shorts that are good for nothing. 1 ¹ For,’ I say, ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah tightly to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. But they would not obey me. 1 ² “So tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine.”’ And they will probably say to you, ‘Do you not think we know that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?’ 1 ³ Then tell them, ‘The Lord says: “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. 1 ⁴ And I will smash them like wine bottles against one another, children and parents alike. I will not show any pity, mercy, or compassion. Nothing will keep me from destroying them,’ says the Lord.” 1 ⁵ Then I said to the people of Judah: “Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant! For the Lord has spoken. 1 ⁶ Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. Do it before you stumble into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile. 1 ⁷ But if you will not pay attention to this warning, I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride. I will weep bitterly, and my eyes will overflow with tears because you, the Lord’s flock, will be carried into exile.” 1 ⁸ The Lord told me: “Tell the king and the queen mother, ‘Surrender your thrones, for your glorious crowns will be removed from your heads. 1 ⁹ The gates of the towns in southern Judah will be shut tight. No one will be able to go in or out of them. All Judah will be carried off into exile. They will be completely carried off into exile.’” 2 ⁰ Then I said, “Look up, Jerusalem, and see the enemy that is coming from the north. Where now is the flock of people that were entrusted to your care? Where now are the ‘sheep’ that you take such pride in? 2 ¹ What will you say when the Lord appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. 2 ² You will probably ask yourself, ‘Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?’ It is because you have sinned so much. 2 ³ But there is little hope for you ever doing good, you who are so accustomed to doing evil. Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard remove its spots? 2 ⁴ “The Lord says, ‘That is why I will scatter your people like chaff that is blown away by a desert wind. 2 ⁵ This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods. 2 ⁶ So I will pull your skirt up over your face and expose you to shame like a disgraced adulteress! 2 ⁷ People of Jerusalem, I have seen your adulterous worship, your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. I have seen your disgusting acts of worship on the hills throughout the countryside. You are doomed to destruction! How long will you continue to be unclean?’” 1 4 :¹ This was the Lord’s message to Jeremiah about the drought. ² “The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. Cries of distress come up to me from Jerusalem. ³ The leading men of the cities send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns, but they do not find any water there. They return with their containers empty. Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. ⁴ They are dismayed because the ground is cracked because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers, too, are dismayed and bury their faces in their hands. ⁵ Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn in the field because there is no grass. ⁶ Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.” ⁷ Then I said, “O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name even though our sins speak out against us. Indeed, we have turned away from you many times. We have sinned against you. ⁸ You have been the object of Israel’s hopes. You have saved them when they were in trouble. Why have you become like a resident foreigner in the land? Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night? ⁹ Why should you be like someone who is helpless, like a champion who cannot save anyone? You are indeed with us, and we belong to you. Do not abandon us!” 1 ⁰ Then the Lord spoke about these people. “They truly love to go astray. They cannot keep from running away from me. So I am not pleased with them. I will now call to mind the wrongs they have done and punish them for their sins.” 1 ¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! 1 ² Even if they fast, I will not hear their cries for help. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will kill them through wars, famines, and plagues.” 1 ³ Then I said, “Oh, Sovereign Lord, look! The prophets are telling them that you said, ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine. I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’” 1 ⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! I did not send them. I did not commission them. I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind. 1 ⁵ I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ 1 ⁶ The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” 1 ⁷ “Tell these people this, Jeremiah: ‘My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. For my people, my dear children, have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound. 1 ⁸ If I go out into the countryside, I see those who have been killed in battle. If I go into the city, I see those who are sick because of starvation. For both prophet and priest— they go peddling in the land but they are not humbled.’” 1 ⁹ Then I said, “Lord, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah? Do you despise the city of Zion? Why have you struck us with such force that we are beyond recovery? We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it. We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror. 2 ⁰ Lord, we confess that we have been wicked. We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. We have indeed sinned against you. 2 ¹ For the honor of your name, do not treat Jerusalem with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it. 2 ² Do any of the worthless idols of the nations cause rain to fall? Do the skies themselves send showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? So we put our hopes in you because you alone do all this.” 1 5 :¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I would not feel pity for them! Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ² If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this: ‘Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease. Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war. Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation. Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.’ ³ “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them; I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies; I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ⁴ I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” ⁵ The Lord cried out, “Who in the world will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will grieve over you? Who will stop long enough to inquire about how you are doing? ⁶ I, the Lord, say: ‘You people have deserted me; you keep turning your back on me.’ So I have unleashed my power against you and have begun to destroy you. I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!” ⁷ The Lord continued, “In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior. ⁸ Their widows will become in my sight more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashores. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men. I will cause anguish and terror to fall suddenly upon them. ⁹ The mother who had seven children will grow faint. All the breath will go out of her. Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life. It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. She will suffer shame and humiliation. I will cause any of them who are still left alive to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” says the Lord. 1 ⁰ I said, “Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone, and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all these people are treating me with contempt.” 1 ¹ The Lord said, “Jerusalem, I will surely send you away for your own good. I will surely bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress. 1 ² Can you people who are like iron and bronze break that iron fist from the north? 1 ³ I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder. I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land. 1 ⁴ I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about. For my anger is like a fire that will burn against you.” 1 ⁵ I said, “Lord, you know how I suffer. Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake. 1 ⁶ As your words came to me, I drank them in, and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. 1 ⁷ I did not spend my time in the company of other people, laughing and having a good time. I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you and because I was filled with anger at what they had done. 1 ⁸ Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you, like a brook one goes to for water but that cannot be relied on?” 1 ⁹ Because of this, the Lord said, “You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. They must become as you have been. You must not become like them. 2 ⁰ I will make you as strong as a wall to these people, a fortified wall of bronze. They will attack you, but they will not be able to overcome you. For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,” says the Lord. 2 ¹ “I will deliver you from the power of the wicked. I will free you from the clutches of violent people.” 1 8 :¹ The Lord said to Jeremiah: ² “Go down at once to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working at his wheel. ⁴ Now and then there would be something wrong with the pot he was molding from the clay with his hands. So he would rework the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. ⁵ Then the Lord’s message came to me, ⁶ “I, the Lord, say: ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’ ⁷ There are times, Jeremiah, when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom. ⁸ But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, I will cancel the destruction I intended to do to it. ⁹ And there are times when I promise to build up and establish a nation or kingdom. 1 ⁰ But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it. 1 ¹ So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing. Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ 1 ² But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” 1 ³ Therefore, the Lord says, “Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin, but she has done something utterly revolting! 1 ⁴ Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? 1 ⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols. This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. 1 ⁶ So their land will become an object of horror. People will forever hiss out their scorn over it. All who pass that way will be filled with horror and will shake their heads in derision. 1 ⁷ I will scatter them before their enemies like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind. I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them when disaster strikes them.” 1 ⁸ Then some people said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.” 1 ⁹ Then I said, “Lord, pay attention to me. Listen to what my enemies are saying. 2 ⁰ Should good be paid back with evil? Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. Just remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf to keep you from venting your anger on them. 2 ¹ So let their children die of starvation. Let them be cut down by the sword. Let their wives lose their husbands and children. Let the older men die of disease and the younger men die by the sword in battle. 2 ² Let cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into. 2 ³ But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me. Do not pardon their crimes! Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them. Let them be brought down in defeat before you. Deal with them while you are still angry!” 1 9 :¹ The Lord told Jeremiah, “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take with you some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders of the priests. ² Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley that is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Announce there what I tell you. ³ Say, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, has said, “Look here! I am about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring. ⁴ I will do so because these people have rejected me and have defiled this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. ⁵ They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make. They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind. ⁶ So I, the Lord, say: ‘The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley the Valley of Slaughter! ⁷ In this place I will thwart the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword at the hands of their enemies. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat. ⁸ I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ⁹ I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.”’”’ 1 ⁰ The Lord continued, “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you. 1 ¹ Tell them the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel that is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’ 1 ² I, the Lord, say: ‘That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth. 1 ³ The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’” 1 ⁴ Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood in its courtyard and called out to all the people. 1 ⁵ “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused to pay any attention to what I have said!’” 2 0 :¹ Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security in the Lord’s temple. ² When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. Then he put him in the stocks that were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the Lord’s temple. ³ But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name for you is not ‘Pashhur’ but ‘Terror is Everywhere.’ ⁴ For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon, and he will kill others of them with the sword. ⁵ I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. ⁶ You, Pashhur, and all your household will go into exile in Babylon. You will die there, and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’” ⁷ Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me. ⁸ For whenever I prophesy, I must cry out, “Violence and destruction are coming!” This message from the Lord has made me an object of continual insults and derision. ⁹ Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message. I will not speak as his messenger anymore.” But then his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it. 1 ⁰ I hear many whispering words of intrigue against me. Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” All my so-called friends are just watching for something that would lead to my downfall. They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up, so we can prevail over him and get our revenge on him.” 1 ¹ But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me. They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten. 1 ² O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause. 1 ³ Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers. 1 ⁴ Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. 1 ⁵ Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! 1 ⁶ May that man be like the cities that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon. 1 ⁷ For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. 1 ⁸ Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. 2 1 :¹ The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask, ² “Please ask the Lord to come and help us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will perform one of his miracles as in times past and make him stop attacking us and leave.” ³ Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah ⁴ that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The forces at your disposal are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. ⁵ In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength. ⁶ I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, people and animals alike. They will die from terrible diseases. ⁷ Then I, the Lord, promise that I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’ ⁸ “But tell the people of Jerusalem that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. ⁹ Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives. 1 ⁰ For I, the Lord, say that I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’” 1 ¹ The Lord told me to say to the royal court of Judah: “Listen to the Lord’s message, 1 ² O royal family descended from David. The Lord says: ‘See to it that people each day are judged fairly. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done. 1 ³ Listen, you who sit enthroned above the valley on a rocky plateau. I am opposed to you,’ says the Lord. ‘You boast, “No one can swoop down on us. No one can penetrate into our places of refuge.” 1 ⁴ But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’ says the Lord. ‘I will set fire to your palace; it will burn up everything around it.’” 2 2 :¹ The Lord told me, “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there. ² Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to the Lord’s message. ³ The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat resident foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land. ⁴ If you are careful to obey these commands, then the kings who follow in David’s succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to come through the gates of this palace, as will their officials and their subjects. ⁵ But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’ ⁶ “For the Lord says concerning the palace of the king of Judah, “‘This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted. ⁷ I will send men against it to destroy it with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire. 8 “‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?” ⁹ The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.” 1 0 “‘Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. 1 1 “‘For the Lord has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, “He will never return to this land. 1 ² For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.” 1 3 “‘Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor. 1 ⁴ He says, “I will build myself a large palace with spacious upper rooms.” He cuts windows in its walls, panels it with cedar, and paints its rooms red. 1 ⁵ Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him. 1 ⁶ He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘That is a good example of what it means to know me. 1 ⁷ But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression.’” 1 ⁸ So the Lord has this to say about Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: “People will not mourn for him, saying, ‘This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him, saying, ‘Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!’ 1 ⁹ He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey. His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. 2 ⁰ “People of Jerusalem, go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. For your allies have all been defeated. 2 ¹ While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. But you said, ‘I refuse to listen to you.’ That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. Indeed, you have never paid attention to me. 2 ² My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! Your allies will go into captivity. Then you will certainly be disgraced and put to shame because of all the wickedness you have done. 2 ³ You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But O how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.” 2 ⁴ The Lord says, “As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you. 2 ⁵ I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian soldiers. 2 ⁶ I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there. 2 ⁷ You will never come back to this land that you will long to return to! 2 ⁸ “This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away. He will be like a clay vessel that no one wants. Why will he and his children be forced into exile? Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? 2 ⁹ O Land, land, land of Judah! Listen to the Lord’s message.” 3 ⁰ The Lord says, “Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”