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
1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah–which was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon–
2 Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
3 For these twenty-three years–from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day–the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you persistently early and late, but you have not listened and obeyed.
4 Although the Lord persistently sent you all the prophets, His servants, yet you have not listened and obeyed or [even] inclined your ear to hear.
5 [The prophets came on My behalf] saying, Turn again now every one from his evil way and wrongdoing; [that you may not forfeit the right to] dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and to your fathers from of old and forevermore.
6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.
7 Yet you have not listened to and obeyed Me, says the Lord, that you might provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) made by your hands to your own hurt.
8 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard and obeyed My words,
9 Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant [or agent to fulfill My designs], and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will devote them [to God] and utterly destroy them and make them an amazement, a hissing, and perpetual and agelong desolations.
10 Moreover, I will take from 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 [grinding out the meal] and the light of the candle [which every home burned throughout the night]. [Jer. 7:34.]
11 And this whole land shall be a waste and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. [II Chron. 36:20-23; Jer. 4:27; 12:11, 12; Dan. 9:2.]
12 Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste. [Jer. 29:10.]
13 And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even them [the Chaldeans who enslaved other nations]; and I will recompense [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.
15 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.
16 They shall drink and reel to and fro and be crazed because of the sword that I will send among them.
17 Then I [Jeremiah] took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink it to whom the Lord had sent me: [that is,]
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is to this day; [I Pet. 4:17.]
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people,
20 And all the mixed foreign population; all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21 Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;
22 All the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea;
23 Dedan, Tema, Buz [neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the corners of their hair and beards; [Lev. 19:27; Jer. 9:26.]
24 All the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed foreign people who dwell in the desert;
25 All the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media;
26 All the kings of the north, far and near, one after another–and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach (Babel or Babylon) shall drink.
27 Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I am sending 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 am beginning to work evil in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts. [Jer. 7:10.]
30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words and say to them: The Lord shall roar from on high and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall roar mightily against His fold and pasture. He shall give a shout like those who tread grapes [in the winepress, but His shout will be] against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has a controversy and an indictment against the nations; He will enter into judgment with all mankind; as for the wicked, He will give them to the sword, says the Lord.
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, evil will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirling tempest will rise from the uttermost parts of the earth.
33 And those slain by the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented or gathered or buried; their [dead bodies] shall be dung upon the ground. [Jer. 8:2; 16:4.]
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and roll in ashes, you principal ones of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you shall fall and be dashed into pieces like a choice vessel.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal ones of the flock any means of escape.
36 A voice! The cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the principal ones of the flock! For the Lord is laying waste and destroying their pasture.
37 And the peaceable folds are devastated and brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 He has left His shelter like the lion; for their land has become a waste and an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of [the Lord's] fierce anger.
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