"Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I will give up the residents of Jerusalem.

I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God.

This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

Why have You broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its fruit?

The boar from the forest gnaws at it, and creatures of the field feed on it.

It was cut down and burned up; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.

You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.

You have lifted high the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.

You have made his splendor cease and have overturned his throne.

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.

Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them," says the LORD.

Even though it is planted, will it flourish? Won't it completely wither when the east wind strikes it? It will wither on the bed where it sprouted."

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A searing wind [blows] from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear people. [It comes] not to winnow or to sift;

a wind too strong for this comes at My call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them."

Although he flourishes among [his] brothers, an east wind will come, a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His water source will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder the treasury of every precious item.

It had strong branches, [fit] for the scepters of rulers; its height towered among the clouds. So it was conspicuous for its height as well as its many branches.

During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.

Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.

Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Then he deported all Jerusalem and all the commanders and all the fighting men, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and metalsmiths. Except for the poorest people of the land, nobody remained.

The king of Babylon also brought captive into Babylon all 7,000 fighting men and 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths-- all strong and fit for war.

The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.

They slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze [chains], and took him to Babylon.

Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.

For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded Josiah his father as king: "He has left this place-- he will never return here again,

Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, [saying,] Woe, my brother! or Woe, [my] sister! They will not mourn for him, saying, Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!

He will be buried [like] a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

They will never return to the land they long to return to."

In fact, it is put into the fire as fuel. The fire devours both of its ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?

and say to the forest there: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord God says: I am about to ignite a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame will not be extinguished, and every face from the south to the north will be scorched by it.

Then all people will see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it. It will not be extinguished."

For fire has been kindled because of My anger and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the land and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

When its branches dry out, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for they are not a people with understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.