1At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:
2Thus Yahweh said to me: Make for yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.
3And send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the Ammonites, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4And command them for their masters, saying: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel — thus you shall say to your masters:
5I made the earth, humankind, and the animals that are on the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever is right in my eyes.
6And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant; and even the beasts of the field I have given to him to serve him.
7All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes as well; then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
8And the nation and the kingdom that will not serve him — Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon — and that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword and with famine and with pestilence, declares Yahweh, until I have finished them off by his hand.
9But you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who say to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’
10For they are prophesying a lie to you, so as to drive you far from your land — and I will banish you, and you will perish.
11But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave it on its own land, declares Yahweh, and it will till it and dwell in it.
12And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke according to all these words, saying: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
13Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.
15For I have not sent them, declares Yahweh, and they are prophesying falsely in my name, so that I will banish you and you will perish — you and the prophets who prophesy to you.
16And to the priests and to all this people I spoke, saying: Thus says Yahweh: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the house of Yahweh will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.
17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
18But if they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, let them now intercede with Yahweh of hosts that the vessels remaining in the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.
19For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels remaining in this city,
20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem —
21for thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem:
22They will be brought to Babylon, and there they will remain until the day I attend to them, declares Yahweh; then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.
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