Jeremiah 25:1–9

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), ²which 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. ^4hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵saying, 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. ^6lDo 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.’ ^7mYet 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, ⁹ⁿbehold, 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.