Seventy Years of Captivity
The 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), 2 which 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, these ctwenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, drising up early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 And Yahweh has sent to you all His aslaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, 5 saying, ‘aTurn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the ground which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers bforever and ever; 6 and ado not walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will bring no evil against you.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Yahweh, “in order that you might aprovoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own evil demise.
8 “Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not listened to My words, 9 behold, I will asend and take all the families of the north,’ declares Yahweh, ‘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 surrounding nations; and I will devote them to destruction and cmake them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting waste place. 10 Moreover, I will amake the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the bsound of the millstones and the light of the lamp, to perish from them. 11 aThis whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon bseventy years.
Punishment Against Babylon
12 ‘Then it will be awhen seventy years are fulfilled, that I will bpunish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, even the land of the Chaldeans; and cI will make it an everlasting desolation. 13 I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in athis book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ball the nations. 14 —For amany nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will brepay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands—’”
15 For thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this acup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 They will adrink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and amade all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it: 18 aJerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a waste place, an object of horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 aPharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people, 20 and all the aforeign people, all the kings of the bland of Uz, all the kings of the land of the cPhilistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of dAshdod), 21 aEdom, bMoab, and the sons of cAmmon, 22 and all the kings of aTyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of bthe coastlands which are beyond the sea, 23 and aDedan, Tema, bBuz, and all who ccut the corners of their hair, 24 and all the kings of aArabia and all the kings of the bforeign people who dwell in the desert, 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of aElam, and all the kings of bMedia, 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and aall the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of bSheshach shall drink after them.
27 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “aDrink, be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more because of the bsword which I will send among you.”’ 28 And it will be, if they arefuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “bYou shall surely drink! 29 For behold, I am abeginning to bring evil against this city which is bcalled by My name. But shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for cI am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares Yahweh of hosts.’
30 “Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,
‘aYahweh will broar from on high
And give forth His voice from His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against His pasture.
He will bellow a shout like those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A rumbling has come to the end of the earth
Because Yahweh has aa contention against the nations.
He is entering into bjudgment with all flesh;
As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares Yahweh.”
32 Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From anation to nation,
And a great bstorm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “Those aslain by Yahweh on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will bnot be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be like cdung on the face of the ground.
34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;
And aroll yourselves in ashes, you masters of the flock;
For the days of your bslaughter and your scatterings are being fulfilled,
And you will fall like a desirable vessel.
35 aRefuge will perish from the shepherds
And escape from the mighty ones of the flock.
36 Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,
And the wailing of the mighty ones of the flock!
For Yahweh is destroying their pasture,
37 And the peaceful apastures are made silent
Because of the bburning anger of Yahweh.
38 He has forsaken His hiding place alike the lion;
For their land has become an object of horror
Because of the burning desire of the oppressor
And because of His burning anger.”