Jeremiah 25:1–9

Seventy Years of Captivity

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the ^afourth year of ^bJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the ^cfirst year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the ^apeople of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

³“From the ^athirteenth year of ^bJosiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, ¹these ^ctwenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, ^2drising up early and speaking, but you have not listened.

⁴“And Yahweh has sent to you all His ^aslaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

⁵saying, ‘^aTurn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the ground which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers ^bforever and ever;

⁶and ^ado not walk after other gods to ¹serve them and to ²worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will bring no evil against you.’

⁷“Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Yahweh, “in order that you might ^aprovoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own evil demise.

⁸“Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not listened to My words,

⁹behold, I will ^asend and take all the families of the north,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^bMy servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will ¹devote them to destruction and ^cmake them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting waste place.