Jeremiah 25

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

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

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

⁴You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear , although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets ,

⁵saying , Turn now , every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds , and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever .

⁶Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands . Then I will do you no harm .

⁷Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm .

⁸Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts : Because you have not obeyed my words ,

⁹behold , I will send for all the tribes of the north , declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon , my servant , and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants , and against all these surrounding nations . I will devote them to destruction , and make them a horror , a hissing , and an everlasting desolation .

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness , the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride , the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp .

¹¹This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste , and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years .

¹²Then after seventy years are completed , I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation , the land of the Chaldeans , for their iniquity , declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste .

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

¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands .

¹⁵Thus the Lord, 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 shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.

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

¹⁸Jerusalem and the cities of Judah , its kings and officials , to make them a desolation and a waste , a hissing and a curse , as at this day ;

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

²⁰and all the mixed tribes among them; 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 , Moab , and the sons of Ammon ;

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

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

²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell 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 , far and near , one after another , and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth . And after them the king of Babylon shall drink .

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

²⁸And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink , then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts : You must drink !

²⁹For behold , I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name , and shall you go unpunished ? You shall not go unpunished , for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth , declares the Lord of hosts .

³⁰You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words , and say to them: The Lord will roar from on high , and from his holy habitation utter his voice ; he will roar mightily against his fold , and shout , like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth .

³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth , for the Lord has an indictment against the nations ; he is entering into judgment with all flesh , and the wicked he will put to the sword , declares the Lord.

³²Thus says the Lord of hosts : Behold , disaster is going forth from nation to nation , and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth !

³³And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other . They shall not be lamented , or gathered , or buried ; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground .

³⁴Wail , you shepherds , and cry out, and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock , for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come , and you shall fall like a choice vessel .

³⁵No refuge will remain for the shepherds , nor escape for the lords of the flock .

³⁶A voice —the cry of the shepherds , and the wail of the lords of the flock ! For the Lord is laying waste their pasture ,

³⁷and the peaceful folds are devastated because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

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