Jeremiah 25
25
The Enemy from the North
1 #
2 Kgs 24.1; 2 Chr 36.5–7; Dan 1.1–2 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, I received a message from the LORD concerning all the people of Judah. (This was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia.) 2I said to all the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, 3“For 23 years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah until this very day, the LORD has spoken to me, and I have never failed to tell you what he said. But you have paid no attention. 4You would not listen or pay attention, even though the LORD has continued to send you his servants the prophets. 5They told you to turn from your wicked way of life and from the evil things you are doing, so that you could go on living in the land that the LORD gave you and your ancestors as a permanent possession. 6They told you not to worship and serve other gods and not to make the LORD angry by worshipping the idols you had made. If you had obeyed the LORD, then he would not have punished you. 7But the LORD himself says that you refused to listen to him. Instead, you made him angry with your idols and have brought his punishment on yourselves.
8“So then, because you would not listen to him, the LORD Almighty says, 9‘I am going to send for all the peoples from the north and for my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. I am going to bring them to fight against Judah and its inhabitants and against all the neighbouring nations. I am going to destroy this nation and its neighbours and leave them in ruins for ever, a terrible and shocking sight. I, the LORD, have spoken. 10#Jer 7.34; 16.9; Rev 18.22–23I will silence their shouts of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. They will have no oil for their lamps, and there will be no more corn. 11#2 Chr 36.21; Jer 29.10; Dan 9.2This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighbouring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years. 12After that I will punish Babylonia and its king for their sin. I will destroy that country and leave it in ruins for ever. 13I will punish Babylonia with all the disasters that I threatened to bring on the nations when I spoke through Jeremiah — all the disasters recorded in this book. 14I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done, and many nations and great kings will make slaves of them.’ ”
God's Judgement on the Nations
15The LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, “Here is a wine cup filled with my anger. Take it to all the nations to whom I send you, and make them drink from it. 16When they drink from it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the war I am sending against them.”
17So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me, and made them drink from it. 18Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse — as they still do.
19-26Here is the list of all the others who had to drink from the cup:
the king of Egypt, his officials and leaders;
all the Egyptians and all the foreigners in Egypt;
all the kings of the land of Uz;
all the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod;
all the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon;
all the kings of Tyre and Sidon;
all the kings of the Mediterranean lands;
the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz;
all the people who cut their hair short;
all the kings of Arabia;
all the kings of the desert tribes;
all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;
all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another.
Every nation on the face of the earth had to drink from it. Last of all, the king of Babylonia will drink from it.
27Then the LORD said to me, “Tell the people that I, the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, am commanding them to drink until they are drunk and vomit, until they fall down and cannot get up, because of the war that I am sending against them. 28And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, then tell them that the LORD Almighty has said that they will still have to drink from it. 29I will begin my work of destruction in my own city. Do they think they will go unpunished? No, they will be punished, for I am going to send war on all the people on earth. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken.
30“You, Jeremiah, must proclaim everything I have said. You must tell these people,
‘The LORD will roar from heaven
and thunder from the heights of heaven.
He will roar against his people;
he will shout like a man treading grapes.
Everyone on earth will hear him,
31and the sound will echo to the ends of the earth.
The LORD has a case against the nations.
He will bring all people to trial
and put the wicked to death.
The LORD has spoken.’ ”
32The LORD Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth. 33On that day the bodies of those whom the LORD has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.
34Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered,#25.34 Hebrew has an additional word, the meaning of which is unclear. and you will be butchered like rams.#25.34 One ancient translation rams; Hebrew vessels. 35There will be no way for you to escape. 36-37You moan and cry out in distress because the LORD in his anger has destroyed your nation and left your peaceful country in ruins. 38The LORD has abandoned his people#25.38 The LORD… people; or The LORD's people run away. like a lion that leaves its cave. The horrors of war and the LORD's fierce anger have turned the country into a desert.
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Jeremiah 25: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 25
25
1 The word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah. The same is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.
2 And the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3 "From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even until this day, which is the twenty-third year, the word of the Lord has been given to me, and I have spoken to you, rising while it was still night, and speaking, and yet you have not listened.
4 And the Lord has sent to you all his servants, the prophets, rising at first light, and sending, and yet you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ears, so that you would hear,
5 when he said: Return, each one from his evil way, and from your wicked thoughts. And you shall dwell in the land, which the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from ancient times and even forever.
6 And do not choose to go after strange gods, so that you would serve them and adore them. And do not provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands. And then I will not afflict you.
7 And yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, and so you have provoked me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own harm."
8 Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Since you have not listened to my words,
9 behold, I will send for and take all the associates of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will lead them over this land, and over its inhabitants, and over all the nations that are around it. And I will destroy them, and I will set them in the midst of stupor and hissing, and continual desolations.
10 And I will perish from them the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp.
11 And this entire land will be in desolation and in stupor. And all these nations will serve the king of Babylon, for seventy years.
12 And when the seventy years have been completed, I will visit their iniquity upon the king of Babylon, and upon that nation, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord. And I will set it in continual desolations.
13 And I will lead over that land all my words, which I have spoken against it, all that has been written in this book, everything whatsoever that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
14 For they have served them, though these were populous nations and great kings. And I will repay them according to their works and according to the deeds of their hands."
15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take the chalice of the wine of this fury from my hand. And you shall cause all the nations, to which I will send you, to drink from it.
16 And they will drink, and be stirred up, and become maddened, before the face of the sword that I will send among them."
17 And I received the chalice from the hand of the Lord, and I caused all the nations, to which the Lord has sent me, to drink from it:
18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its leaders, so that I gave them over to desolation, and stupor, and hissing, and a curse, just as it is this day.
19 "But as for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his leaders, and all his people,
20 and the entire populace in general: all the kings of the land of the south, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21 and Idumea, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon,
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the land of the islands that are across the sea,
23 and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who have shaved off their hair,
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, who live in the desert,
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media,
26 and likewise, all the kings of the north from near to far, each one facing his brother, and all the kingdoms upon the face of the earth, and the king of Sesac: all these shall drink after them.
27 And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, and be inebriated, and vomit, and fall down. And you shall not rise up before the face the sword that I will send among you.
28 And if they refuse to receive the cup from your hand and to drink, you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Certainly, you shall drink!
29 For behold, I am beginning to afflict the city in which my name has been invoked, and will you be innocent and immune? You will not be immune! For I will call the sword over all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.
30 And you shall prophesy to them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord will roar from on high, and he will utter his voice from his holy habitation. When roaring, he will roar over the place of his beauty. He will call out, like those who chant in rhythm as they trample the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The sound of it will penetrate even to the ends of the earth. For the Lord is entering into judgment with the nations. He himself is entering into judgment with all flesh. I have delivered the impious to the sword, says the Lord."
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Behold, an affliction will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind will go forth from the ends of the earth.
33 And the slain of the Lord will be, on that day, from one end of the earth, even to the other end. They will not be mourned, and they will not be gathered, and they will not be buried. They will lie upon the face of the earth like dung.
34 Wail, O shepherds, and cry out! And sprinkle yourselves with ashes, O nobles of the flock! For the days have been completed that lead to your slaughter and your destruction. And you will fall like precious vessels.
35 And escape will flee from the shepherds, and safety will flee from the nobility of the flock."
36 There is a voice of outcry from the shepherds, and a wailing among the nobles among the flock! For the Lord has laid waste to their pastures.
37 And the fields of peace have been silenced before the face of the fury of the Lord.
38 He has abandoned those he sheltered like a lion. For the earth has become a desolation before the face of the anger of the dove, and before the face of the fury of the Lord.
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