Jeremiah 25

1This is the 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:

3“For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

4Yahweh has sent you all his servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened or turned your ear to hear.

5They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from his evil way and from your evil deeds, and you will live in the land that Yahweh gave to you and your ancestors from long ago and forever.

6Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship 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, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.

8Therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Because you have not obeyed my words,

9look, I am going to send for all the peoples of the north, declares Yahweh, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations around it. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and an object of scorn and an everlasting ruin.

10I 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.

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

12But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, declares Yahweh, for their guilt, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it a desolation forever.

13I will bring on that land all the 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 make slaves of them too, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.”

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

16They will drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.”

17So I took the cup from Yahweh’s hand and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it:

18Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a ruin, a horror, an object of scorn, and a curse, as they are today;

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

20all the foreign peoples; 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 the Ammonites;

22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who clip the hair at their temples;

24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign peoples who live in the desert;

25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

26all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another; and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach will drink.

27Then you are to say to them, “This is what Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall down and do not get up, because of the sword that I am sending among you.”

28And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them, “This is what Yahweh of Armies says: You must drink!

29For look, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and will you really go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares Yahweh of Armies.”

30Now you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them: “Yahweh will roar from on high and raise his voice from his holy dwelling. He will roar mightily against his pasture; he will shout like those who tread grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31The uproar will reach to the ends of the earth, for Yahweh has a case against the nations. He is entering into judgment with all people, and he will hand the wicked over to the sword, declares Yahweh.

32This is what Yahweh of Armies says: Look, disaster is spreading from nation to nation, and a great storm is rising from the far reaches of the earth.

33On that day those slain by Yahweh will lie from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.

34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scattering have come, and you will fall like a precious jar.

35The shepherds will have no place to flee, and the leaders of the flock no escape.

36Listen to the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for Yahweh is destroying their pasture.

37The peaceful meadows are laid waste because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

38Like a lion he has left his lair, for their land has become a horror because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of his fierce anger.”