The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 25 -

After Jehoiakim had been ruling Judah for almost four years, Yahweh gave me this message for all the people of Judah. It was during the year that King Nebuchadnezzar started to rule in Babylon.

Jeremiah spoke this message to all the people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah:

“Yahweh has been giving me messages for twenty-three years. He started giving me messages when Josiah son of Amon, had been ruling Judah for almost thirteen years. And I have faithfully told you those messages, but you have not paid any attention to them.

Many times Yahweh has sent to you the prophets who served him, but you have not listened to them or paid any attention to what they said.

Each time their message was this: ’Turn from all your evil behavior, from all the evil things that you have continually been doing. If you do that, you will be able to stay in this land that Yahweh gave to you and to your ancestors, to belong to you forever.

Do not cause Yahweh to become angry by serving and worshiping idols that you have made with your hands. If you do not cause him to be angry, he will not punish you.’

And Yahweh says, ’But you would not pay attention to the messages that I gave to those prophets. You caused me to become extremely angry by your worshiping idols that you had made with your own hands. That resulted in my punishing you.

So now, I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, say that because you have not paid attention to what I said,

I will gather all the armies of the nations that will come from the northeast. I have appointed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to lead them. I have appointed him to do my work for me. I will bring those armies to attack this land, all the people living in it, and even nearby countries. I will completely destroy them, and cause them to be places that people are horrified about, and that people will ridicule, places that will be ruined forever.

I will cause happy singing and laughing to cease in your land. There will no longer be brides and bridegrooms talking joyfully. There will not be the sound of people grinding grain with millstones. There will be no lamps lit in your houses.

All of this land will become a desert where no one will live. And the people of Israel and of the nearby countries will be exiled to Babylonia and work for the kings of Babylon for seventy years.

Then, after they have been in Babylonia for seventy years, I will punish the king of Babylonia and his people for the sins that they have committed. I will cause Babylonia to become a wasteland forever.

I will cause them to experience all the terrible things that Jeremiah has written about, all the punishments that he predicted will happen to all those nations.

The leaders of many nations will cause the people of Babylonia to become their slaves, like the people of Babylonia caused my people to become slaves. I will punish them like they deserve for having caused my people to suffer.’”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

Then Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave me a vision. In the vision he was holding a cup of wine. He said, “Take from me this cup that is full of wine that represents punishment. I will cause all the leaders of the nations to which I will send you to drink some of the wine in this cup.

When they drink the wine, they will stagger and act like crazy people, because they will realize that I will massacre many of their people with swords.”

So, in the vision, I took that cup full of wine from Yahweh, and I took it to all the nations to which he sent me, and caused the leaders of those nations to drink some of that wine.

I went to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah, and the king and the other officials drank some of the wine from that cup. And, starting from that day, they all eventually were removed from having authority, and became people whom others ridiculed, who were despised, and cursed.

In the vision Egypt had to drink some of the wine, including the king and his officials and many of his people,

and foreigners who were living there. In the vision the land of Uz and the cities and kings of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod had to drink some of the wine.

Then the vision about the kings of Edom, Moab, and Ammon began.

Then there were more visions about the kings of the cities of Tyre and Sidon across the Mediterranean Sea, about the kings who had to drink some of the wine.

In the vision the religious leaders of the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz, which were cities in Arabia and other distant places, they had to drink some of the wine.

In the vision other places in Arabia and the kings of tribes in the desert

and the kings of the Zimri, Elam, and Media people groups,

and kings in countries to the north that are near to Israel and to countries that are far from Israel, one after the other, all the kingdoms in the world had to drink, and finally the king of Babylon had to drink some of the wine.

Then in the vision Yahweh said to me, “Tell them that this is what Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, the God of Israel, says: ’Drink from this cup some of the wine that represents the punishment that I will give you. Drink a lot of it and become drunk and vomit. You will fall down and not get up again, because I will cause you to be killed in wars that I will send to you.

If any of those to whom you give this wine refuse to drink it, tell them that Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies says that they must drink it.

I am starting to bring disaster to my own people. They will not be exempt from punishment, for I am sending wars to all the nations on the earth. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, have said it.’

Now tell them all those things that I have said, and also say this to them: ’Yahweh will shout to them from from the highest places like a lion roars! He will call out with a shout from the holy place where he lives! He will roar like a lion against his people because of their sins! Like those who shout so loudly when they are treading the grapes, he will shout so that everyone who lives on the earth can hear him!

Even people in very remote places around the earth will hear him shouting, because he will say why he will judge and punish all the nations. He will cause the wicked people to be slaughtered with swords. That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it.’

Then tell them that this is what Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, says: ’Listen to this! Disasters will happen to one nation after another. Punishment from me will arise like a great storm from the most distant places on the earth.

When that happens, the corpses of those whom I have caused to be slaughtered will fill the earth from the east to the west. And no one will mourn for them, and no one will gather their corpses to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.

The Cry of the Shepherds

You evil leaders, they call out for someone to help them! You who were the leaders of my people, fell down and they rolled in the dust. Now it is time for you to be slaughtered! You will fall down and be shattered like a fragile vase shatters when it falls to the ground.

Those who should have taken care of my people will not find any place to hide; there will be no place for the leaders of my people to find safety.

You who take care of my people now crying out for help, and those who were the leaders of my people they cry and beg for help, while I, Yahweh, am destroying your nation.

Your peaceful meadows will become a wasteland because Yahweh will severely punish it.

Yahweh will leave his dwelling like a lion leaves its den to attack other animals, and he will cause your land to become desolate. He is very angry with you and will make your enemies angry at you.’”

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

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

From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the LORD’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.

The LORD has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear),

saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more.

Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.”

“Yet you have not listened to me,” says the LORD, “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”

Therefore the LORD of Armies says: “Because you have not heard my words,

behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says the LORD, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth 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.

This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

“It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says the LORD, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.

I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

For the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

They will drink, and reel back and forth, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

Then I took the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:

Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today;

Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes, and all his people;

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

Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;

and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;

Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off;

and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;

and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.

“You shall tell them, ‘The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”’

It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “You shall surely drink.

For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of Armies.”’

“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them, “‘The LORD will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,”’ says the LORD.”

The LORD of Armies says, “Behold, evil will go out from nation to nation, and a great storm will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.”

The slain of the LORD will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They won’t be lamented. They won’t be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground.

The Cry of the Shepherds

Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery.

The shepherds will have no way to flee. The leader of the flock will have no escape.

A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leader of the flock, for the LORD destroys their pasture.

The peaceful folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of his fierce anger.