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 (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “For twenty-three years, from 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
persistently to you, but you have not listened. You have neither
listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD
persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, saying,
‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and
dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers
from of old and forever. Do not go after other gods to serve and
worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands.
Then I will do you no harm.’ Yet you have not listened to me,
declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work
of your hands to your own harm.
“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not
obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the
north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and
its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will
devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and
an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the
voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the
millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become
a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I
will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the
Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land
an everlasting waste. I will bring upon that land all the words
that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book,
which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations
and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will
recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their
hands.”
Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand
this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I
send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed
because of the sword that I am sending among them.”
So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations
to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of
Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a
waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; Pharaoh king of
Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, and all the
mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all
the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron,
and the remnant of Ashdod); Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; all
the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the
coastland across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the
corners of their hair; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of
the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri,
all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; all the kings of
the 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 Babylon shall drink.
“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more,
because of the sword that I am sending among you.’
“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: You must
drink! For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is
called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go
unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants
of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’
“You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and
say to them:
“‘The LORD will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against the nations;
he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,
declares the LORD.’
“Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
and a great tempest is stirring
from the farthest parts of the earth!
“And those pierced by the LORD on that day shall extend from
one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or
gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the
ground.
“Wail, you shepherds, and cry out,
and 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.
No refuge will remain for the shepherds,
nor escape for the lords of the flock.
A voice—the cry of the shepherds,
and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the LORD is laying waste their pasture,
and the peaceful folds are devastated
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Like a lion he has left his lair,
for their land has become a waste
because of the sword of the oppressor,
and because of his fierce anger.”
