1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah,
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same
was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,) 2 which Jeremiah
the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, saying: 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon,
king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh
has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but
you have not listened. 4 Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the
prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but you have not listened,
nor inclined your ear to hear,) 5 saying, Return you now everyone
from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land
that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even
forevermore; 6 and don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship
them, and don’t 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, says Yahweh; that
you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own
hurt. 8 Therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts: Because you have not
heard my words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the
north, says Yahweh, and I will send to Nebuchadrezzar the king of
Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the
inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about; and I will
utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and
perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of
mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of
the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 This
whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations
shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 It shall happen, when
seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and
that nation, says Yahweh, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans;
and I will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all my
words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this
book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many
nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I
will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of
their hands. 15 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this
cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I
send you, to drink it. 16 They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and
be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then took I
the cup at Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh
had sent me: 18 to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and
the kings of it, and the princes of it, to make them a desolation, an
astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king
of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 and
all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the
kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant
of Ashdod; 21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; 22 and all the
kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is
beyond the sea; 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners
of their hair cut off; 24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the
kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25 and all the
kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all
the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the
king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 You shall tell them, Thus says
Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Drink you, and be drunken, and spew,
and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28 It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then
shall you tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: You shall surely drink.
29 For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my
name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be
unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,
says Yahweh of Hosts. 30 Therefore prophesy you against them all these
words, and tell them, Yahweh will roar from on high, and utter his voice from
his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a
shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of
the earth. 31 A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for Yahweh
has a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all
flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Yahweh.
32 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of
the earth. 33 The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the
earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither
gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes,
you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your
dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.
35 The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock
to escape. 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the
principal of the flock! for Yahweh lays waste their pasture. 37 The
peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.
38 He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land is become an
astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, and
because of his fierce anger.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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