Jeremiah 25
25
Seventy Years of Exile
1-2 #
2 K 24.1; 2 Ch 36.5-7; Dn 1.1,2. In the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah,#25.1,2 Jehoiakim … Judah: See the note at 1.3. which was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar#25.1,2 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. was king of Babylonia, the Lord told me to speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. So I told them:
3For 23 years now, ever since the thirteenth year that Josiah#25.3 Josiah: Hebrew “Josiah son of Amon”; Josiah ruled 640–609 b.c. was king, I have been telling you what the Lord has told me. But you have not listened.
4The Lord has sent prophets to you time after time, but you refused to listen. 5They told you that the Lord had said:
Change your ways! If you stop doing evil, I will let you stay forever in this land that I gave your ancestors. 6I don't want to harm you. So don't make me angry by worshiping idols and other gods.
7But you refused to listen to my prophets. So I, the Lord, say that you have made me angry by worshiping idols, and you are the ones who were hurt by what you did. 8You refused to listen to me, 9and now I will let you be attacked by nations from the north, and especially by my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. You and other nearby nations will be destroyed and left in ruins forever. Everyone who sees what has happened will be shocked, but they will still make fun of you. 10#Jr 7.34; 16.9; Rev 18.22,23. I will put an end to your parties and wedding celebrations; no one will grind grain or be here to light the lamps at night. 11#2 Ch 36.21; Jr 29.10; Dn 9.2. This country will be as empty as a desert, because I will make all of you the slaves of the king of Babylonia for 70 years.
12When that time is up, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his people for everything they have done wrong, and I will turn that country into a wasteland forever. 13My servant Jeremiah has told you what I said I will do to Babylonia and to the other nations, and he wrote it all down in this book. I will do everything I threatened. 14I will pay back the Babylonians for every wrong they have done. Great kings from many other nations will conquer the Babylonians and force them to be slaves.
The Cup Full of God's Anger
15The Lord God of Israel showed me a vision in which he said, “Jeremiah, here is a cup filled with the wine of my anger. Take it and make every nation drink some. 16They will vomit and act crazy, because of the war this cup of anger will bring to them.”
17I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and I went to the kings of the nations and made each of them drink some. 18I started with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and the king and his officials were removed from power in disgrace. Everyone still makes insulting jokes about them and uses their names as curse words. 19The second place I went was Egypt, where everyone had to drink from the cup, including the king and his officials, the other government workers, the rest of the Egyptians, 20and all the foreigners who lived in the country.
Next I went to the king of Uz, and then to the four kings of Philistia, who ruled from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what was left of Ashdod.#25.20 what was left of Ashdod: It was defeated by the king of Egypt after being surrounded for 29 years. 21Then I went to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, 22and to the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and their colonies across the sea. 23-24After this, I went to the kings of Dedan, Tema, Buz, the tribes of the Arabian Desert,#25.23,24 the tribes of the Arabian Desert: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. 25Zimri, Elam, Media, 26and the countries in the north, both near and far.
I went to all the countries on earth, one after another, and finally to Babylonia.#25.26 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “Sheshach,” a secret way of writing “Babylonia.”
27The Lord had said to tell each king, “The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, commands you to drink from this cup that is full of the wine of his anger. It will make you so drunk that you will vomit. And when the Lord sends war against the nations, you will be completely defeated.”
28The Lord told me that if any of them refused to drink from the cup, I must tell them that he had said, “I, the Lord All-Powerful, command you to drink. 29Starting with my own city of Jerusalem, everyone on earth will suffer from war. So there is no way I will let you escape unharmed.”
30The Lord told me to say:
From my sacred temple
I will roar like thunder,
while I trample my people
and everyone else
as though they were grapes.
31My voice will be heard
everywhere on earth,
accusing nations of their crimes
and sentencing the guilty
to death.
Disaster Is Coming
32The Lord All-Powerful says:
You can see disaster spreading
from far across the earth,
from nation to nation
like a horrible storm.
33When it strikes, I will kill so many people that their bodies will cover the ground like manure. No one will be left to bury them or to mourn.
The Leaders of Judah Will Be Punished
34The Lord's people are his flock,
and you leaders
were the shepherds.
But now it's your turn
to be butchered like sheep.
You'll shatter like fine pottery
dropped on the floor.#25.34 You'll shatter … floor: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
So roll on the ground,
crying and mourning.
35You have nowhere to run,
nowhere to hide.
* 36-37Listen to the cries
of the shepherds,
as the Lord's burning anger
turns#25.36,37 anger turns: Or “anger and enemy armies turn.” peaceful meadows
into barren deserts.
38Like a lion leaving its den,
the Lord has abandoned
his people
to the destruction of war.
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Jeremiah 25: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 25
25
Seventy Years of Desolation
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, #Jer. 36:1in the fourth year of #2 Kin. 24:1, 2; 2 Chr. 36:4–6; Dan. 1:1, 2Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3#Jer. 1:2“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, #Jer. 7:13; 11:7, 8, 10but you have not listened. 4And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, #Jer. 7:13, 25rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. 5They said, #2 Kin. 17:13; (Is. 55:6, 7); Jer. 18:11; Ezek. 18:30; (Jon. 3:8–10)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ 7Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might #Deut. 32:21; Jer. 7:19; 32:30provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 9behold, I will send and take #Jer. 1:15all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, #Is. 45:1; Jer. 27:6My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and #Jer. 18:16make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10Moreover I will take from them the #Is. 24:7–11; Jer. 7:34; 16:9; Ezek. 26:13; Hos. 2:11; Rev. 18:23voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, #Eccl. 12:4; Is. 47:2the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy #2 Chr. 36:21; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2; Zech. 7:5years.
12‘Then it will come to pass, #2 Chr. 36:21, 22; Ezra 1:1; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; #Is. 13:20; Jer. 50:3‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 14#Jer. 50:9; 51:27, 28(For many nations #Jer. 51:27and great kings shall #Jer. 27:7be served by them also; #Jer. 50:29; 51:6, 24and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Judgment on the Nations
15For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this #Job 21:20; Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17; Rev. 14:10wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16And #Jer. 51:7; Ezek. 23:34; Nah. 3:11they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: 18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them #Jer. 25:9, 11a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and #Jer. 24:9a curse, as it is this day; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20all the mixed multitude, all the kings of #Job 1:1; Lam. 4:21the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the #Jer. 47:1–7; Ezek. 25:16, 17Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and #Is. 20:1the remnant of Ashdod); 21#Jer. 49:7Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 22all the kings of #Jer. 47:4; Zech. 9:2–4Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the #Jer. 49:23sea; 23#Is. 21:13; Jer. 49:7, 8Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the #Jer. 25:20; 50:37; Ezek. 30:5mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of #Gen. 10:22; Is. 11:11; Jer. 49:34Elam, and all the kings of the #Is. 13:17; Jer. 51:11, 28Medes; 26#Jer. 50:9all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27“Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: #Jer. 25:16; Hab. 2:16“Drink, #Is. 63:6be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ 28And it shall be, 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 certainly drink! 29For behold, #(Prov. 11:31); Is. 10:12; Jer. 13:13; Ezek. 9:6; (Luke 23:31; 1 Pet. 4:17)I begin to bring calamity on the city #Dan. 9:18which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for #Ezek. 38:21I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’
30“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:
‘The Lord will #Is. 42:13; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2roar from on high,
And utter His voice from #Ps. 11:4His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against #1 Kin. 9:3; Ps. 132:14His fold.
He will give #Is. 16:9; Jer. 48:33a shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the Lord has #Hos. 4:1; Mic. 6:2a controversy with the nations;
#Is. 66:16; Joel 3:2He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord.”
32Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And #Jer. 23:19; 30:23a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.
33#Is. 34:2, 3; 66:16And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be #Jer. 16:4, 6; Ezek. 39:4, 17lamented, #Ps. 79:3; Jer. 8:2; Rev. 11:9or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
34“Wail,#Jer. 4:8; 6:26; Ezek. 27:30 shepherds, and cry!
Roll about in the ashes,
You leaders of the flock!
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;
You shall fall like a precious vessel.
35And the shepherds will have no way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the Lord has plundered their pasture,
37And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land is desolate
Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
And because of His fierce anger.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.