“Thus says Yahweh
Concerning
The house
Of the king of Judah.
‘You are
Like Gilead to me.
You are
Like the summit of Lebanon.
But I swear
That I will make you a desert,
An uninhabited city.
I will prepare destroyers
Against you.
All will have weapons.
They shall cut down
Your choicest cedars.
They will cast them
Into the fire.”
Just like in the preceding chapter, Yahweh promises to burn down the royal palace. The royal palace had become like Gilead to Yahweh, a pleasant mountainous area was on the eastern side of the Jordan River that originally belonged to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, present day Jordan. The summits of Lebanon refer to the high mountains with their wonderful trees in present day Lebanon. However, Yahweh was going to make the beautiful royal palace become a desert or an uninhabited city. The destroyers or invaders were going to come and cut down their choicest wood cedar building. They would all be set on fire as this beauty would be destroyed.