Seventy Years of Captivity

¹eThe word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³“For twenty-three years, ffrom the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken gpersistently to you, hbut you have not listened. ⁴hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, ⁵saying, i‘Turn now, every one of you, jfrom his evil way and evil deeds, and kdwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. ⁶lDo not go after other gods to serve and worship them, mor provoke me to anger mwith the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷mYet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, mthat you might provoke me to anger mwith the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹nbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰Moreover, qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, rthe grinding of the millstones and sthe light of the lamp. ¹¹pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon useventy years. ¹²Then after useventy years are completed, vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, vmaking the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴xFor many nations xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, yand I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath

¹⁵Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: z“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of athe sword that I am sending among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, band made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: ¹⁸cJerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, dto make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ¹⁹ePharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰and fall the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of gthe land of Uz and all the kings of hthe land of the Philistines (hAshkelon, hGaza, Ekron, and the remnant of iAshdod); ²¹jEdom, kMoab, and the sons of lAmmon; ²²all the kings of mTyre, all the kings of mSidon, and the kings of the coastland across nthe sea; ²³oDedan, pTema, qBuz, and all who cut rthe corners of their hair; ²⁴all the skings of Arabia and all the kings of fthe mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of tElam, and all the kings of uMedia; ²⁶all the kings of vthe north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of wBabylon1 shall drink.

²⁷“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: xDrink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ythe sword that I am sending among you.’

²⁸“And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: zYou must drink! ²⁹For behold, aI begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, yfor I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰“You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

b“‘The Lord will roar from on high,

and from his holy habitation utter his voice;

he will roar mightily against his fold,

cand shout, like those who tread grapes,

against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,

for dthe Lord has an indictment against the nations;

ehe is entering into judgment with all flesh,

and the wicked he will put to the sword,

declares the Lord.’

³²“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

Behold, disaster is going forth

from nation to nation,

fand a great tempest is stirring

gfrom the farthest parts of the earth!

³³h“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. iThey shall not be lamented, jor gathered, or buried; jthey shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

³⁴k“Wail, lyou shepherds, and cry out,

mand roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,

for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,

and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

³⁵No refuge will remain nfor the shepherds,

nor escape for the lords of the flock.

³⁶A voice—the cry nof the shepherds,

oand the wail of the lords of the flock!

For the Lord is laying waste their pasture,

³⁷pand the peaceful folds are devastated

qbecause of the fierce anger of the Lord.

³⁸Like a lion rhe has left his lair,

for their land has become a waste

because of sthe sword of the oppressor,

qand because of his fierce anger.”