Jeremiah 25
25
Don’t Follow the God-Fads of the Day
1This is the Message given to Jeremiah for all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
2Jeremiah the prophet delivered the Message to all the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem:
3From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah right up to the present day—twenty-three years it’s been!—God’s Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I’ve passed it on to you. And you haven’t listened to a word of it!
4-6Not only that but God also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened. They told you, “Turn back—right now, each one of you!—from your evil way of life and bad behavior, and live in the land God gave you and your ancestors, the land he intended to give you forever. Don’t follow the god-fads of the day, taking up and worshiping these no-gods. Don’t make me angry with your god-businesses, making and selling gods—a dangerous business!
7“You refused to listen to any of this, and now I am really angry. These god-making businesses of yours are your doom.”
8-11The verdict of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on all this: “Because you have refused to listen to what I’ve said, I’m stepping in. I’m sending for the armies out of the north headed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant in this, and I’m setting them on this land and people and even the surrounding countries. I’m devoting the whole works to total destruction—a horror to top all the horrors in history. And I’ll banish every sound of joy—singing, laughter, marriage festivities, genial workmen, candlelit suppers. The whole landscape will be one vast wasteland. These countries will be in subjection to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12-14“Once the seventy years is up, I’ll punish the king of Babylon and the whole nation of Babylon for their sin. Then they’ll be the wasteland. Everything that I said I’d do to that country, I’ll do—everything that’s written in this book, everything Jeremiah preached against all the godless nations. Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the Babylonians, paying them back for everything they’ve done to others. They won’t get by with anything.” God’s Decree.
God Puts the Human Race on Trial
15-16This is a Message that the God of Israel gave me: “Take this cup filled with the wine of my wrath that I’m handing to you. Make all the nations where I send you drink it down. They’ll drink it and get drunk, staggering in delirium because of the killing that I’m going to unleash among them.”
17-26I took the cup from God’s hand and made them drink it, all the nations to which he sent me:
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, along with their kings and leaders, turning them into a vast wasteland, a horror to look at, a cussword—which, in fact, they now are;
Pharaoh king of Egypt with his attendants and leaders, plus all his people and the melting pot of foreigners collected there;
All the kings of Uz;
All the kings of the Philistines from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what’s left of Ashdod;
Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;
All the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and the coastlands across the sea;
Dedan, Tema, Buz, and the nomads on the fringe of the desert;
All the kings of Arabia and the various Bedouin sheiks and chieftains wandering about in the desert;
All the kings of Zimri, Elam, and the Medes;
All the kings from the north countries near and far, one by one;
All the kingdoms on planet Earth . . .
And the king of Sheshak (that is, Babylon) will be the last to drink.
27“Tell them, ‘These are orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit. Fall on your faces and don’t get up again. You’re slated for a massacre.’
28“If any of them refuse to take the cup from you and drink it, say to them, ‘God-of-the-Angel-Armies has ordered you to drink. So drink!
29“‘Prepare for the worst! I’m starting off the catastrophe in the city that I claim as my own, so don’t think you are going to get out of it. No, you’re not getting out of anything. It’s the sword and nothing but the sword against everyone everywhere!’” The God-of-the-Angel-Armies’ Decree.
30-31“Preach it all, Jeremiah. Preach the entire Message to them. Say:
“‘God roars like a lion from high heaven;
thunder rolls out from his holy dwelling—
Ear-splitting bellows against his people,
shouting hurrahs like workers in harvest.
The noise reverberates all over the earth;
everyone everywhere hears it.
God makes his case against the godless nations.
He’s about to put the human race on trial.
For the wicked the verdict is clear-cut:
death by the sword.’” God’s Decree.
* * *
32A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Prepare for the worst! Doomsday!
Disaster is spreading from nation to nation.
A huge storm is about to rage
all across planet Earth.”
* * *
33Laid end to end, those killed in God’s judgment that day will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. No tears will be shed and no burials conducted. The bodies will be left where they fall, like so much horse dung fertilizing the fields.
* * *
34-38Wail, shepherds! Cry out for help!
Grovel in the dirt, you masters of flocks!
Time’s up—you’re slated for the slaughterhouse,
like a choice ram with its throat cut.
There’s no way out for the rulers,
no escape for those shepherds.
Hear that? Rulers crying for help,
shepherds of the flock wailing!
God is about to ravage their fine pastures.
The peaceful sheepfolds will be silent with death,
silenced by God’s deadly anger.
God will come out into the open
like a lion leaping from its cover,
And the country will be torn to pieces,
ripped and ravaged by his anger.
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Jeremiah 25: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Jeremiah 25
25
Unheard Voice of the Prophets
1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).
2Jeremiah the prophet spoke it to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day—these 23 years—the word of Adonai has come to me. So I have spoken to you, speaking early and often, but you have not listened.
4Moreover, Adonai has sent to you all His servants the prophets, sending them early and often—but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear—
5saying: ‘Turn, now, everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell in the land that Adonai has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever.
6Do not go after other gods to serve them, to worship them, and so do not provoke Me with the work of your hands, so I would do you no harm.’
7“Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Adonai. “So you are provoking Me with the work of your hands, to your own hurt.”
8Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Since you have not heard My words,
9I will soon send for and bring all the families of the north”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and I will send for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, an enduring desolation.
10“Moreover, I will silence among them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
Seventy Years of Desolation
11“So this whole land will be a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
12Then it will come to pass, when 70 years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” declares Adonai, “the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it ruins forever.
13I will bring on that land all My words which I pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
14For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them also. So I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their own hands.”
Cup of Fury and Reeling
15For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel, to me: “Take this cup of the wine of fury from My hand, and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it.
16They will drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them.
17Then I took the cup from Adonai’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Adonai had sent me:
18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes—to make them an appalling horror and hissing, a curse as it is this day;
19Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes and all his people;
20and all the mingled people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21Edom, Moab, and Ammon’s children;
22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;
23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who shave the corners;
24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed people dwelling in the wilderness;
25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media;
26all the kings of the north, either far or close to another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach will drink after them.”
27And you will say to them, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunken, vomit, fall down and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you.”
28And if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then here is what you will say to them: “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, you will surely drink!
29See, I am beginning to bring evil on the city where My name is called, and should you go completely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth.” It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
30Therefore you are to prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: “Adonai is roaring from on high, giving voice from His holy dwelling. He roars mightily over His sheepfold. He shouts like those who tread grapes, against all who dwell on the earth.
31A noise has come to the end of the earth, for Adonai has a dispute with the nations. He is passing judgment on all flesh. As for the wicked, He has given them over to the sword.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
32Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Evil will soon go forth from nation to nation. A great storm is being stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
33Those slain by Adonai on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be dung on the surface of the ground.”
34Wail, you shepherds, and cry! Wallow in the dust, you leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are full. You will fall like a precious vase.
35For the shepherds will have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36Hark! The outcry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock! For Adonai is ravaging their pasture.
37The peace of the pasture is stifled because of the fierce anger of Adonai.
38He has left His lair, like a lion. For their land has become a waste, because of the fury of the oppressor and because of His fierce anger.
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