Jeremiah 25–26

Chapter 25

Prophecy of the 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 the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you ^2dagain and again, but you have not listened.

⁴“And the Lord has sent to you all His ^aservants the prophets ¹again and again, 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 dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers ^bforever and ever;

⁶and ^ado not go 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 do you no harm.’

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

⁸“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold, I will ^asend and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘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 nations round about; and I will ¹utterly destroy them and ^cmake them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰‘Moreover, I will ^1atake from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the ^bsound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

¹¹‘^aThis whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon ^bseventy years.

Babylon Will Be Judged

¹²‘Then it will be ^awhen seventy years are completed I will ^bpunish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ^cI will make it an everlasting desolation.

¹³‘I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in ^athis book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ^ball the nations.

¹⁴‘(¹For ^amany nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will ^brecompense them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’ ”

¹⁵For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this ^acup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

¹⁶“They will ^adrink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and ^amade all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:

^18aJerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day;

^19aPharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people;

²⁰and all the ^1aforeign people, all the kings of the ^bland of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^cPhilistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of ^dAshdod);

^21aEdom, ^bMoab and the sons of ^cAmmon;

²²and all the kings of ^aTyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of ^bthe coastlands which are beyond the sea;

²³and ^aDedan, Tema, ^bBuz and all who ^ccut the corners of their hair;

²⁴and all the kings of ^aArabia and all the kings of the ^1bforeign people who dwell in the desert;

²⁵and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^aElam and all the kings of ^bMedia;

²⁶and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and ^aall the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of ^1bSheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “^aDrink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the ^bsword which I will send among you.” ’

²⁸“And it will be, if they ^arefuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “^bYou shall surely drink!

²⁹“For behold, I am ^abeginning to work calamity in this city which is ^bcalled by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for ^cI am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,

‘The ^aLord will ^broar from on high

And utter His voice from His holy habitation;

He will roar mightily against His ¹fold.

He will shout like those who tread the grapes,

Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹‘A clamor has come to the end of the earth,

Because the Lord has ^aa controversy with the nations.

He is entering into ^bjudgment with all flesh;

As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”

³²Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“Behold, evil is going forth

From ^anation to nation,

And a great ^bstorm is being stirred up

From the remotest parts of the earth.

³³“Those ^aslain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the ¹other. They will ^bnot be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like ^cdung on the face of the ground.

³⁴“Wail, you shepherds, and cry;

And ^awallow in ashes, you masters of the flock;

For the days of your ^bslaughter and your dispersions ¹have come,

And you will fall like a choice vessel.

³⁵“^aFlight will perish from the shepherds,

And escape from the masters of the flock.

³⁶“Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,

And the wailing of the masters of the flock!

For the Lord is destroying their pasture,

³⁷“And the peaceful ^1afolds are made silent

Because of the ^bfierce anger of the Lord.

³⁸“He has left His hiding place ^alike the lion;

For their land has become a horror

Because of the fierceness of the ¹oppressing sword

And because of His fierce anger.”

Chapter 26

Cities of Judah Warned

¹In the beginning of the reign of ^aJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying,

²“Thus says the Lord, ‘^aStand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have ^bcome to worship in the Lord’s house ^call the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. ^dDo not omit a word!

³‘^aPerhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that ^bI may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’

⁴“And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “^aIf you will not listen to Me, to ^bwalk in My law which I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of ^aMy servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you ¹again and again, but you have not listened;

⁶then I will make this house like ^aShiloh, and this city I will make a ^bcurse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

A Plot to Murder Jeremiah

⁷The ^apriests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

⁸When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “^aYou must die!

⁹“Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be ^adesolate, without inhabitant’?” And ^ball the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰When the ^aofficials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat in the ^bentrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

¹¹Then the priests and the prophets ^aspoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A ^bdeath sentence for this man! For he has prophesied ^cagainst this city as you have heard in your hearing.”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “^aThe Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³“Now therefore ^aamend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will ¹change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴“But as for me, behold, ^aI am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.

¹⁵“Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring ^ainnocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

Jeremiah Is Spared

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people ^asaid to the priests and to the prophets, “No ^bdeath sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

¹⁷Then ^asome of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸“^1aMicah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus the Lord of hosts has said,

“^bZion will be plowed as a field,

And Jerusalem will become ruins,

And the ^cmountain of the house as the ²high places of a forest.” ’

¹⁹“Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not ^afear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and ^bthe Lord ¹changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are ^ccommitting a great evil against ourselves.”

²⁰Indeed, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from ^aKiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

²¹When King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, then the ^aking sought to put him to death; but Uriah heard it, and he was afraid and ^bfled and went to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: ^aElnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him went into Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who ^aslew him with a sword and cast his dead…