Judah Threatened with Invasion

¹¹ So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am ^(A)forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now ^(B)turn back, each of you from his evil way, and ^[a]correct your ways and your deeds!”’

⁵ saying, ‘^(A)Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers ^(B)forever and ever; ⁶ and ^(C)do not follow other gods to ^[a]serve them and to ^[b]worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord, “in order to ^(D)provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, ⁹ behold, I will ^(E)send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(F)My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will ^[c]completely destroy them and ^(G)make them an object of horror and ^[d]hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will ^(H)eliminate from them the voice of jubilation and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the ^(I)sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ^11 (J)This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for ^(K)seventy years.

Babylon Will Be Judged

¹² ‘Then it will be ^(L)when seventy years are completed I will ^(M)punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ^(N)I will make it an everlasting desolation. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in ^(O)this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ^(P)all the nations. ¹⁴ (^[e]For ^(Q)many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will ^(R)repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’”

¹⁵ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this ^(S)cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it. ¹⁶ Then they will ^(T)drink and loudly vomit and act insanely because of the sword that I am going to send among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and ^(U)gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me, to drink from it: ¹⁸ To ^(V)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them places of ruins, objects of horror, ^[f]hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ To ^(W)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people; ²⁰ and to all the ^(X)foreign ^[g]people, all the kings of the ^(Y)land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(Z)Philistines (that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(AA)Ashdod); ²¹ To ^(AB)Edom, ^(AC)Moab, and the sons of ^(AD)Ammon; ²² and to all the kings of ^(AE)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of ^(AF)the coastlands which are beyond the sea; ²³ and to ^(AG)Dedan, Tema, ^(AH)Buz, and all who ^(AI)trim the corners of their hair; ²⁴ and to all the kings of ^(AJ)Arabia and all the kings of the ^(AK)foreign ^[h]people who live in the desert; ²⁵ and to all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(AL)Elam, and all the kings of ^(AM)Media; ²⁶ and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and ^(AN)all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; and the king of ^[i](AO)Sheshach shall drink it after them.

²⁷ “And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(AP)Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the ^(AQ)sword which I am sending among you.”’ ²⁸ And if they ^(AR)refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “^(AS)You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, I am ^(AT)beginning to inflict disaster on this city which is ^(AU)called by My name, so should you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for ^(AV)I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of armies.’

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

³³ “Those ^(BC)put to death by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the ^[l]other. They will ^(BD)not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like ^(BE)dung on the face of the ground.

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord God. “^(A)Repent and turn away from all your offenses, so that wrongdoing does not become a stumbling block to you. ^31 (B)Hurl away from you all your offenses which you have committed and make yourselves a ^(C)new heart and a new spirit! For why should you die, house of Israel? ³² For I take ^(D)no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live!”

²⁰ but continually proclaimed ^(A)to those in Damascus first, and ^(B)in Jerusalem, and then all the region of Judea, and even ^(C)to the Gentiles, that they are to ^(D)repent and turn to God, performing deeds ^(E)consistent with repentance.