Daily Bread

“Though you are like Gilead^(L) to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,^(M)
I will surely make you like a wasteland,^(N)
    like towns not inhabited.
⁷ I will send destroyers^(O) against you,
    each man with his weapons,
and they will cut^(P) up your fine cedar beams
    and throw them into the fire.^(Q)

¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead^(T) king or mourn^(U) his loss;
    rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return^(V)
    nor see his native land again.

¹³ “Woe^(Y) to him who builds^(Z) his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying^(AA) them for their labor.
¹⁴ He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace^(AB)
    with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
    panels it with cedar^(AC)
    and decorates it in red.^(AD)

¹⁵ “Does it make you a king
    to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
    He did what was right and just,^(AE)
    so all went well^(AF) with him.
¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy,^(AG)
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know^(AH) me?”
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,^(AI)
on shedding innocent blood^(AJ)
    and on oppression and extortion.”^(AK)

“They will not mourn^(AL) for him:
    ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
    ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
¹⁹ He will have the burial^(AM) of a donkey—
    dragged away and thrown^(AN)
    outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,^(AO)
    let your voice be heard in Bashan,^(AP)
cry out from Abarim,^(AQ)
    for all your allies^(AR) are crushed.
²¹ I warned you when you felt secure,^(AS)
    but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;^(AT)
    you have not obeyed^(AU) me.
²² The wind^(AV) will drive all your shepherds^(AW) away,
    and your allies^(AX) will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced^(AY)
    because of all your wickedness.
²³ You who live in ‘Lebanon,^[b](AZ)’
    who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
    pain^(BA) like that of a woman in labor!

²⁸ Is this man Jehoiachin^(BH) a despised, broken pot,^(BI)
    an object no one wants?
Why will he and his children be hurled^(BJ) out,
    cast into a land^(BK) they do not know?
²⁹ O land,^(BL) land, land,
    hear the word of the Lord!
³⁰ This is what the Lord says:
“Record this man as if childless,^(BM)
    a man who will not prosper^(BN) in his lifetime,
for none of his offspring^(BO) will prosper,
    none will sit on the throne^(BP) of David
    or rule anymore in Judah.”