Chapter 27

The Nations to Submit to Nebuchadnezzar

1 In the beginning of the reign of 1aZedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying—

2 thus says the Lord to me—“Make for yourself abonds and byokes and put them on your neck,

3 and send 1word to the king of aEdom, to the king of aMoab, to the king of the sons of aAmmon, to the king of aTyre and to the king of aSidon 2by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

4 “Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters,

5 “aI have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth bby My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will cgive it to the one who is 1pleasing in My sight.

6 “Now I ahave given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, bMy servant, and I have given him also the cwild animals of the field to serve him.

7 “aAll the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson buntil the time of his own land comes; then cmany nations and great kings will 1make him their servant.

8 “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which awill not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the bsword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed 1it by his hand.

9 “But as for you, ado not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your 1dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

10 “For they prophesy a alie to you in order to bremove you far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish.

11 “But the nation which will abring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will blet remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.” ’ ”

12 I spoke words like all these to aZedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

13 “Why will you adie, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 “So ado not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a blie to you;

15 for aI have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they bprophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may cdrive you out and that you may perish, dyou and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the avessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a blie to you.

17 “Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city abecome a ruin?

18 “But aif they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now bentreat the Lord of hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.

19 “For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the apillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he acarried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

21 “Yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,

22 ‘They will be acarried to Babylon and they will be there until the bday I visit them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will cbring them 1back and restore them to this place.’ ”