Seventy Years of Captivity

25 eThe 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), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, ffrom 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 gpersistently to you, hbut you have not listened. 4 hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, i‘Turn now, every one of you, jfrom his evil way and evil deeds, and kdwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 lDo not go after other gods to serve and worship them, mor provoke me to anger mwith the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 mYet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, mthat you might provoke me to anger mwith the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 nbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, rthe grinding of the millstones and sthe light of the lamp. 11 pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon useventy years. 12 Then after useventy years are completed, vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, vmaking the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 xFor many nations xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, yand I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”