The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 25 The seventy years of captivity, and then the ruin of Babylon and the other nations.

 

The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 25

The seventy years of captivity, and then the ruin of Babylon and the other nations.

 

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

2 Which the prophet Jeremiah announced to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day (which is the twenty-third year), the word of the Lord came to me, and I proclaimed it to you, rising early and speaking; but you did not listen.

4 The Lord also sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them (but you did not listen or incline your ears to hear),

5 Saying, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil way and from the wickedness of your deeds, and dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and to your fathers forever and ever;

6 Do not go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, so that I do not harm you.

7 Yet you did not listen to me, declares the Lord, but you provoked me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.

8 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: Because you have not listened to my words.

9 Behold, I will send and take all the generations of the north, says the Lord, even Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and a perpetual wasteland.

10 And I will cause to perish among them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

11 And this whole land shall become a desolate wasteland, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 But it shall come to pass, when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; I will make them a perpetual desolation.

13 And I will bring upon this land all my words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all these nations.

14 For many nations and great kings will also serve them; so I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.

15 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

16 So that they may drink and tremble and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.

17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me.

18 To Jerusalem, and to the cities of Judah, and to their kings, and to their princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day:

19 To Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his servants, and to his princes, and to all his people;

20 And to all the mixed multitude, and to all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and to Ashkelon, and to Gaza, and to Ekron, and to the remnant of Ashdod,

21E to Edom, and to Moab, and to the children of Ammon;

22 And to all the kings of Tyre, and to all the kings of Sidon, and to the kings of the islands beyond the sea;

23 To Dedan, and to Tema, and to Buz, and to all who dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth;

24 And to all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert;

25 And to all the kings of Zimri, and to all the kings of Elam, and to all the kings of Media:

26 And all the kings of the north, those near and those far away, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the face of the earth, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 For you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall down, and do not rise again, because of the sword that I will send among you.’

28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: You shall surely drink.’

29 For behold, I begin to punish the city which is called by my name; and shall you go unpunished? No, you shall not go unpunished, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.

30 You shall prophesy all these words to them, and say to them: “The Lord will roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy dwelling place; he will roar mightily against his dwelling place, with a shout of joy, like those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.”

31 The sound will reach to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh; he will give the wicked to the sword, says the Lord.

32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, evil goes forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall arise from the ends of the earth.

33 And the slain of the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth: they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried; but they shall be like dung on the face of the earth.

34 Howl, you shepherds, and cry out; roll yourselves in ashes, you leaders of the flock, for your days to be slaughtered have come, and I will break you, and you will fall like a precious vessel.

35 And there will be no escape for the shepherds, nor rescue for the leaders of the flock.

36 The voice of the shepherds crying out, and the howling of the leaders of the flock; for the Lord has destroyed their pasture.

37 For their peaceful flocks will be uprooted because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

38 He has abandoned his dwelling place like a young lion; for his land has been laid waste because of the fury of the oppressor, and because of the fierceness of his wrath.