Jeremiah 25:1–9

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.