Jeremiah 25–26

Seventy Years of Servitude

25The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,^{a 3}“From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three years^b the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you over and over again,^c but you have not listened. ⁴And though Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you over and over again^d you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear, ⁵saying,^e ‘Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestors^f from a long time back and until forever, ⁶and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.’ ⁷‘Yet you have not listened to me,’ declares^g Yahweh, ‘so that you^h have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.’

⁸Thereforeⁱ thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹look, I am going to send and take all the clans^j of the north,’ declares^k Yahweh, ‘and I will send^l to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and everlasting ruins.^{m 10}And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. ¹¹And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.ⁿ

The Cup of Wrath

¹²And then^o when the seventy years^p are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares^q Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it an everlasting waste.^{r 13}And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.’ ” ¹⁵For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and you must give it to all the nations to whom I am sending you to drink. ¹⁶And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the presence^s of the sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave it^t to all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink: ¹⁸Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, and its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his officials, and all his people; ²⁰and all the other^u people; and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines—^v​Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; ²¹Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonites;^{w 22}and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland that is across the sea; ²³and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who are trimmed to the side; ²⁴and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the other^x people who dwell in the desert;^{y 25}and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; ²⁶and all the kings of the north, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them.

²⁷“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and you must not rise because of the presence^z of the sword that I am sending among you.” ’ ²⁸And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must certainly drink! ²⁹For look, on the city that is called by^a my name I am beginning to inflict harm, and you indeed, will you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares^b Yahweh of hosts.’

³⁰And you yourself shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them:

‘Yahweh will roar from on high,

and from his holy dwelling place^c he will give his voice.

He will roar mightily against his settlement,

a jubilant shout like those who tread grapes,

he will answer against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹The rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth,

for there is a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations.

He is entering into judgment with all wicked flesh,

he will give them to the sword,’ declares^d Yahweh.”

³²Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation,

and a great tempest is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.

³³And the slain ones of Yahweh will be on that day

from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,

and they will not be mourned,

and they will not be gathered,

and they will not be buried.

They will become like dung on the surface^e of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out.

And roll about in mourning in the dust, O leaders^f of the flock.

For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived,

and you will fall like a vessel of desire.

³⁵And flight will perish from the shepherds,

and escape from the leaders^g of the flock.

³⁶A sound, the cry of distress of the shepherds

and the wailing of the leaders^h of the flock,

for Yahweh is despoiling their pasture.

³⁷And the peaceful settlementsⁱ are devastated

because of the burning anger of Yahweh.^j

³⁸He has left his den like a lion,

for their land has become a horror,

because of the anger of the oppressors,

and because of his burning anger.”^k

Jeremiah Escapes Death

26At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying,^{a 2}“Thus says Yahweh: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you must speak to all the cities of Judah that come to bow in worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. You must not omit a word. ³Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster that I am planning to do to them because of their evil deeds. ⁴And you shall say to them, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set^b before you,^{c 5}to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, over and over again,^d though you have not listened, ⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ ” ’ ”

⁷And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of Yahweh. ⁸And then^e as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying,^f “You will die! ⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying,^g ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, without^h inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the house of the king to the temple of Yahweh, and they sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh’s temple. ¹¹Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying,ⁱ “This man deserves the death sentence,^j because he has prophesied against this city as that which you have heard with your ears.”

¹²Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying,^k “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. ¹³Now therefore^l amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you. ¹⁴But as for me, look, I am in your hand, do to me what is good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵Only you must certainly know that if you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves innocent blood, and on this city and on its inhabitants, for truly^m Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “This man does not deserveⁿ a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us.” ¹⁷Then men from the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembly of the people, saying,^{o 18}“Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying:^p

‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts:

“Zion will be plowed as a field,

and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the temple^q as high places of wood.” ’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? Was he not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we are about to do great disaster to ourselves.”

²⁰Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah. ²¹And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put…