Jeremiah 25

Seventy Years of Captivity

25This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah

. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.H1697H3414H5971H3063H7243H8141H3079H1121H2977H4428H3063H7224H8141H5019H4428H8942Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem,H3414H5030H1696H5971H3063H3427H3389H5593“For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon

, king of Judah, until now—the Lord has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.H7969H6240H8141H2977H1121H526H4428H3063H3117H7969H6242H8141H1697H3068H1696H7925H1696H80854“Again and again the Lord has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention.H3068H7971H5650H5030H7925H7971H8085H5186H241H80855Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever.H559H7725H376H7451H1870H7455H4611H3427H127H3068H5414H1H5704H5769H57696Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’H3212H310H312H430H5647H7812H3707H4639H3027H74897“But you would not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.H8085H5002H3068H3707H4639H3027H74518And now the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me,H559H3068H6635H8085H16979I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy

you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.H7971H3947H4940H6828H5002H3068H5019H4428H894H5650H935H776H3427H1471H5439H2763H7760H8047H8322H5769H272310I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out.H6H6963H8342H6963H8057H6963H2860H6963H3618H6963H7347H216H521611This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.H776H2723H8047H1471H5647H4428H894H7657H814112“Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the Lord. “I will make the country of the Babylonians

a wasteland forever.H7657H8141H4390H6485H4428H894H1471H5002H3068H5771H776H3778H7760H5769H807713I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book—all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.H935H776H1697H1696H3789H5612H3414H5012H147114Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”H7227H1471H1419H4428H5647H7999H6467H4639H3027

The Cup of the Lord’s Anger

15This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.H559H3068H430H3478H3947H3196H3563H2534H3027H1471H7971H824816When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”H8354H1607H1984H6440H2719H797117So I took the cup of anger from the Lord and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the Lord sent me.H3947H3563H3068H3027H1471H8248H3068H797118I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.H3389H5892H3063H4428H8269H5414H2723H8047H8322H7045H311719I gave the cup to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials, and all his people,H6547H4428H4714H5650H8269H597120along with all the foreigners living in that land. I also gave it to all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.H6153H4428H776H5780H4428H776H6430H831H5804H6138H7611H79521Then I gave the cup to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,H123H4124H1121H598322and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.H4428H6865H4428H6721H4428H339H5676H322023I gave it to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places

.H1719H8485H938H7112H628524I gave it to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,H4428H6152H4428H6153H7931H405725and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.H4428H2174H4428H5867H4428H407426And I gave it to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other—all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon

himself drank from the cup of the Lord’s anger.H4428H6828H7350H7138H376H251H4467H776H6440H127H4428H8347H8354H31027Then the Lord said to me, “Now tell them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit; fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.’H559H559H3068H6635H430H3478H8354H7937H7006H5307H6965H6440H2719H797128And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You have no choice but to drink from it.H3985H3947H3563H3027H8354H559H559H3068H6635H8354H835429I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that bears my name. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!’H2490H7489H5892H7121H8034H5352H5352H5352H7121H2719H3427H776H5002H3068H663530“Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, “‘The Lord will roar against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout like those who tread grapes; he will shout against everyone on earth.H5012H1697H559H3068H7580H4791H5414H6963H6944H4583H7580H7580H5116H6030H1959H1869H3427H77631His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with the sword. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”H7588H935H7097H776H3068H7379H1471H8199H1320H5414H7563H2719H5002H306832This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!”H559H3068H6635H7451H3318H1471H1471H1419H5591H5782H3411H77633In that day those the Lord has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.H2491H3068H3117H7097H776H7097H776H5594H622H6912H1828H6440H12734Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like a fragile vase.H3213H7462H2199H6428H117H6629H3117H2873H8600H4390H5307H2532H362735You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.H7462H4498H6H117H6629H641336Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds. The leaders of the flock are wailing in despair, for the Lord is ruining their pastures.H6963H6818H7462H3215H117H6629H3068H7703H483037Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the Lord’s fierce anger.H7965H4999H1826H6440H2740H639H306838He has left his den like a strong lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the Lord’s fierce anger.H5800H5520H3715H776H8047H6440H2740H3238H6440H2740H639