I will destroy the winter house with the summer house. The houses of ivory will be destroyed. Many houses will be destroyed.” This is what the Lord said.
The time this happened was in the ninth month, so King Jehoiakim was sitting in the part of the palace used for winter. There was a fire burning in a small fireplace in front of the king.
The rest of what King Ahab did during the time he ruled is written in the book, The History of the Kings of Israel. That book tells about all the cities he built and about all the ivory that he used to decorate his palace.
Ehud went to King Eglon. The king was sitting all alone in the upper room of his palace. Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” The king stood up from his throne. He was very close to Ehud.
So the Lord GOD says, “An enemy will surround your land. They will break down your strong walls and take the things you have hidden in your high towers.”
You take unfair taxes from the poor. You take loads of wheat from them. You build fancy houses with cut stone, but you will not live in them. You plant beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them.
The people of Edom might say, “We were destroyed, but we will go back and rebuild our cities.” But the Lord All-Powerful says, “If they rebuild their cities, I will destroy them again.” That is why people say Edom is an evil country—a nation the Lord hates forever.