Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(A)in the fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ^3 (C)“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, ^(D)but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, ^(E)rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ⁵ They said, ^(F)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might ^(G)provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, ⁹ behold, I will send and take ^(H)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(I)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and ^(J)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰ Moreover I will ^[a]take from them the ^(K)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(L)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ^(M)years.

¹² ‘Then it will come to pass, ^(N)when ^[b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ^(O)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. ¹³ So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ^14 (P)(For many nations ^(Q)and great kings shall ^(R)be served by them also; ^(S)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Judgment on the Nations

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this ^(T)wine cup of ^[c]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. ¹⁶ And ^(U)they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them ^(V)a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and ^(W)a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; ²⁰ all the mixed multitude, all the kings of ^(X)the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(Y)Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and ^(Z)the remnant of Ashdod); ^21 (AA)Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(AB)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the ^(AC)sea; ^23 (AD)Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the ^(AE)mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(AF)Elam, and all the kings of the ^(AG)Medes; ^26 (AH)all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of ^[d]Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AI)“Drink, ^(AJ)be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ ²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(AK)I begin to bring calamity on the city ^(AL)which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for ^(AM)I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

³² Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^33 (AU)And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be ^(AV)lamented, ^(AW)or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.