Jeremiah 25
25
Seventy Years of Servitude
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, 2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,#Literally “to say” 3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three years#Hebrew “year” the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you over and over again,#Literally “I have spoken to you doing early and speaking” but you have not listened. 4And though Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you over and over again#Literally “do early and sending” you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear, 5saying,#Literally “to say” ‘Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestors#Or “fathers” from a long time back and until forever, 6and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.’ 7‘Yet you have not listened to me,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, ‘so that you#Hebrew “they” have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.’
8Therefore#Literally “To thus” thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, 9look, I am going to send and take all the clans#Or “families” of the north,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, ‘and I will send#Here the subject and verb are supplied from context in the English translation to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and everlasting ruins.#Literally “sites of ruins of eternity” 10And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.#Hebrew “year”
The Cup of Wrath
12And then#Literally “And it will happen” when the seventy years#Hebrew “year” are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it an everlasting waste.#Literally “a waste of eternity” 13And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.’ ” 15For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and you must give it to all the nations to whom I am sending you to drink. 16And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the presence#Literally “face” of the sword that I am sending among them.”
17So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave it#Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation to all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink: 18Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, and its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his officials, and all his people; 20and all the other#Or “foreign” people; and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines—#Hebrew “Philistine”Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonites;#Literally “sons of Ammon” 22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland that is across the sea; 23and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who are trimmed to the side; 24and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the other#Or “foreign” people who dwell in the desert;#Or “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, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them.
27“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and you must not rise because of the presence#Literally “face” of the sword that I am sending among you.” ’ 28And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must certainly drink! 29For look, on the city that is called by#Literally “on it” my name I am beginning to inflict harm, and you indeed, will you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh of hosts.’
30And you yourself shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them:
‘Yahweh will roar from on high,
and from his holy dwelling place#Literally “the dwelling place of his holiness” he will give his voice.
He will roar mightily against his settlement,
a jubilant shout like those who tread grapes,
he will answer against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31The rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth,
for there is a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations.
He is entering into judgment with all wicked flesh,
he will give them to the sword,’ declares#Literally “a declaration of” Yahweh.”
32Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation,
and a great tempest is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
33And the slain ones of Yahweh will be on that day
from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,
and they will not be mourned,
and they will not be gathered,
and they will not be buried.
They will become like dung on the surface#Literally “face” of the ground.
34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out.
And roll about in mourning in the dust, O leaders#Or “nobles” of the flock.
For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived,
and you will fall like a vessel of desire.
35And flight will perish from the shepherds,
and escape from the leaders#Or “nobles” of the flock.
36A sound, the cry of distress of the shepherds
and the wailing of the leaders#Or “nobles” of the flock,
for Yahweh is despoiling their pasture.
37And the peaceful settlements#Literally “settlements of the peace” are devastated
because of the burning anger of Yahweh.#Literally “the blaze of the nose of Yahweh”
38He has left his den like a lion,
for their land has become a horror,
because of the anger of the oppressors,
and because of his burning anger.”#Literally “the blaze of his nose”
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Jeremiah 25: LEB
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Jeremiah 25
25
Seventy years of exile
1-2In 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:#2 K 24.1; 2 Ch 36.5-7; Dn 1.1,2.
3For twenty-three years now, ever since the thirteenth year that Josiah#25.3 Josiah: Hebrew “Josiah son of Amon”; Josiah ruled 640-609 BC. 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 for ever in this land that I gave your ancestors. 6I don't want to harm you. So don't make me angry by worshipping idols and other gods.
7But you refused to listen to my prophets. So I, the LORD, say that you have made me angry by worshipping 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 for ever. Everyone who sees what has happened will be shocked, but they will still make fun of you. 10I will put an end to your parties and wedding celebrations; no one will grind grain or be here to light the lamps at night.#Jr 7.34; 16.9; Rev 18.22,23. 11This country will be as empty as a desert, because I will make all of you the slaves of the king of Babylonia for seventy years.#2 Ch 36.21; Jr 29.10; Dn 9.2.
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 for ever. 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 mad, 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 twenty-nine 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 I must 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.
36-38Listen to the cries
of the shepherds,
as the LORD's burning anger
turns#25.36-38 anger turns: Or “anger and enemy armies turn”. peaceful meadows
into barren deserts.
The LORD has abandoned
his people#25.36-38 The LORD has…people: Or “And his people leave their homes”.
like a lion leaving its den.
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