Jeremiah 25
25
Seventy Years of Captivity
1This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah.#25:1a The fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign and the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 605 b.c. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar#25:1b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 25:9. of Babylon began his reign.
2Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem, 3“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon,#25:3 The thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign was 627 b.c. king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.
4“Again and again the Lord has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention. 5Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever. 6Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’
7“But you would not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer. 8And now the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me, 9I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy#25:9 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering. you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever. 10I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out. 11This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12“Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the Lord. “I will make the country of the Babylonians#25:12 Or Chaldeans. a wasteland forever. 13I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book—all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations. 14Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”
The Cup of the Lord’s Anger
15This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”
17So I took the cup of anger from the Lord and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the Lord sent me. 18I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing. 19I gave the cup to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials, and all his people, 20along with all the foreigners living in that land. I also gave it to all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod. 21Then I gave the cup to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, 22and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea. 23I gave it to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.#25:23 Or who clip the corners of their hair. 24I gave it to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert, 25and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media. 26And I gave it to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other—all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon#25:26 Hebrew of Sheshach, a code name for Babylon. himself drank from the cup of the Lord’s anger.
27Then the Lord said to me, “Now tell them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit; fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.’ 28And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You have no choice but to drink from it. 29I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that bears my name. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!’
30“Now prophesy all these things, and say to them,
“‘The Lord will roar against his own land
from his holy dwelling in heaven.
He will shout like those who tread grapes;
he will shout against everyone on earth.
31His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth,
for the Lord will bring his case against all the nations.
He will judge all the people of the earth,
slaughtering the wicked with the sword.
I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
32This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation!
A great whirlwind of fury is rising
from the most distant corners of the earth!”
33In that day those the Lord has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.
34Weep and moan, you evil shepherds!
Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock!
The time of your slaughter has arrived;
you will fall and shatter like a fragile vase.
35You will find no place to hide;
there will be no way to escape.
36Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds.
The leaders of the flock are wailing in despair,
for the Lord is ruining their pastures.
37Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland
by the Lord’s fierce anger.
38He has left his den like a strong lion seeking its prey,
and their land will be made desolate
by the sword#25:38 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads by the anger. of the enemy
and the Lord’s fierce anger.
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Jeremiah 25: NLT
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Jeremiah 25
25
1The word that hath been unto Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, — it [is] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, —
2Which Jeremiah the prophet hath spoken concerning all the people of Judah, even unto all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3‘From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and unto this day — this three and twentieth year — hath the word of Jehovah been unto me, and I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened;
4And Jehovah hath sent unto you all His servants, the prophets, rising early and sending, and ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear, saying:
5‘Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell on the ground that Jehovah hath given to you and to your fathers from age unto age,
6And ye do not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow yourselves to them, nor do ye provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I do no evil to you;
7And ye have not hearkened unto Me — an affirmation of Jehovah — so as to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands for evil to you.
8‘Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Because that ye have not obeyed My words,
9Lo, I am sending, and have taken all the families of the north — an affirmation of Jehovah — even unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and have brought them in against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and have devoted them, and appointed them for an astonishment, and for a hissing, and for wastes ageduring.
10And I have destroyed from them the voice of rejoicing, and the voice of joy, voice of bridegroom and voice of bride, noise of millstones, and the light of lamps.
11And all this land hath been for a waste, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years.
12‘And it hath come to pass, at the fulness of seventy years, I charge against the king of Babylon, and against that nation — an affirmation of Jehovah — their iniquity, and against the land of the Chaldeans, and have appointed it for desolations age-during.
13And I have brought in on that land all My words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, that Jeremiah hath prophesied concerning all the nations.
14For laid service on them — also them — have many nations and great kings, and I have given recompence to them according to their doing, and according to the work of their hands.
15‘For thus said Jehovah God of Israel unto me, Take the wine cup of this fury out of My hand, and thou hast caused all the nations to drink it unto whom I am sending thee;
16And they have drunk, and shaken themselves and shewn themselves foolish, because of the sword that I am sending among them.
17‘And I take the cup out of the hand of Jehovah, and cause all the nations to drink unto whom Jehovah sent me:
18Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, And its kings, its heads, To give them to waste, to astonishment, To hissing, and to reviling, as [at] this day.
19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, And his heads, and all his people,
20And all the mixed people, And all the kings of the land of Uz, And all the kings of the land of the Philistines, And Ashkelon, and Gazzah, and Ekron, And the remnant of Ashdod,
21Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon,
22And all the kings of Tyre, And all the kings of Zidon, And the kings of the isle that [is] beyond the sea,
23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, And all cutting the corners [of the beard],
24And all the kings of Arabia, And all the kings of the mixed people, Who are dwelling in the wilderness,
25And all the kings of Zimri, And all the kings of Elam, And all the kings of Media,
26And all the kings of the north, The near and the far off, one unto another, And all the kingdoms of the earth, That [are] on the face of the ground, And king Sheshach drinketh after them.
27And thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts God of Israel, Drink ye, yea drink abundantly, And vomit, and fall, and rise not, Because of the sword that I am sending among you.
28And it hath come to pass, When they refuse to receive the cup out of thy hand to drink, That thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Ye do certainly drink.
29For lo, in the city over which My name is called, I am beginning to do evil, And ye — ye are entirely acquitted! Ye are not acquitted, for a sword I am proclaiming, For all inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.
30And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land,
31Wasting hath come unto the end of the earth, For a controversy hath Jehovah with nations, He hath executed judgment for all flesh, The wicked! He hath given them to the sword, An affirmation of Jehovah.
32Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, evil is going out from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind is stirred up from the sides of the earth.
33And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are.
34Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, And roll yourselves, ye honourable of the flock, For full have been your days, For slaughtering, and [for] your scatterings, And ye have fallen as a desirable vessel.
35And perished hath refuge from the shepherds, And escape from the honourable of the flock.
36A voice [is] of the cry of the shepherds, And a howling of the honourable of the flock, For Jehovah is spoiling their pasture.
37And the peaceable habitations have been cut down, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.
38He hath forsaken, as a young lion, His covert, Surely their land hath become a desolation, Because of the oppressing fierceness, And because of the fierceness of His anger!
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