Jeremiah 25

The AIT Bible

Seventy Years of Babylonian Rule

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah — that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon —

2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke concerning all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day — these twenty-three years — the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

4And Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear.

5saying, ‘Turn back, please, each one from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the ground that Yahweh gave to you and to your fathers, from ancient times and forever.’

6‘And do not go after other gods, to serve them and to bow down to them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.’

7But you have not listened to me, declares Yahweh, so that you provoked me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.

8Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words,

9behold, I am sending and I will take all the clans of the north, declares Yahweh, and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.

10And I will banish from them the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11And this whole land will become a ruin and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12Then it will be, when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation their iniquity, declares Yahweh, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it everlasting desolations.

13And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

14For many nations and great kings will themselves enslave them, even them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.

The Nations Drink the Cup

15For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it.

16And they will drink and stagger and act like madmen because of the sword that I am sending among them.

17So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh, and I made all the nations to whom Yahweh had sent me drink:

18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants and his officials and all his people;

20and all the mixed multitude, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines — Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

21Edom and Moab and the sons of Ammon;

22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland that is beyond the sea;

23and Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all who clip the corners of their hair;

24and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the 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, one to another, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the face of the ground; and after them the king of Sheshach will drink.

27And you shall say to them: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, and get drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.

28And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: Thus says Yahweh of hosts: You shall surely drink!

29For behold, in the city over which my name is called I am beginning to bring disaster, and shall you go wholly unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh Roars Against the Nations

30And you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them: Yahweh roars from on high, and from his holy dwelling he utters his voice; he roars mightily against his fold; he answers with a shout, like those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31A tumult has come to the end of the earth, for Yahweh has a dispute with the nations; he enters into judgment with all flesh, and the wicked he has given to the sword—declares Yahweh.

32Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, disaster is going out from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring up from the remotest parts of the earth.

33And on that day those slain by Yahweh will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; they will not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried—they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.

34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll yourselves in ashes, you lords of the flock, for your days for slaughter have been fulfilled; and I will scatter you, and you will fall like a precious vessel.

35And refuge will perish from the shepherds, and escape from the lords of the flock.

36A sound! The cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the lords of the flock! For Yahweh is devastating their pasture.

37And the peaceful pastures are silenced because of the burning of Yahweh’s anger.

38Like a lion he has left his lair, for their land has become a desolation because of the burning wrath of the oppressor and because of the burning of his anger.

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