Jeremiah 25:12-33
New King James Version
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, (A)when [a]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; (B)‘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 (C)(For many nations (D)and great kings shall (E)be served by them also; (F)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 (G)wine cup of [b]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And (H)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 (I)a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and (J)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 (K)the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the (L)Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and (M)the remnant of Ashdod); 21 (N)Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 22 all the kings of (O)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the (P)sea; 23 (Q)Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the (R)mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of (S)Elam, and all the kings of the (T)Medes; 26 (U)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 [c]Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (V)“Drink, (W)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, (X)I begin to bring calamity on the city (Y)which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for (Z)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:
‘The Lord will (AA)roar from on high,
And utter His voice from (AB)His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against (AC)His fold.
He will give (AD)a shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the Lord has (AE)a controversy with the nations;
(AF)He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord.”
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And (AG)a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.
33 (AH)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 (AI)lamented, (AJ)or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Jeremiah 25:12 Beginning circa 605 b.c. (2 Kin. 24:1) and ending circa 536 b.c. (Ezra 1:1)
- Jeremiah 25:15 wrath
- Jeremiah 25:26 A code word for Babylon, Jer. 51:41
Jeremiah 25:12-33
Good News Translation
12 After that I will punish Babylonia and its king for their sin. I will destroy that country and leave it in ruins forever. 13 I will punish Babylonia with all the disasters that I threatened to bring on the nations when I spoke through Jeremiah—all the disasters recorded in this book. 14 I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done, and many nations and great kings will make slaves of them.’”
God's Judgment on the Nations
15 The Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, “Here is a wine cup filled with my anger. Take it to all the nations to whom I send you, and make them drink from it. 16 When they drink from it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the war I am sending against them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me, and made them drink from it. 18 Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse—as they still do.
19-26 Here is the list of all the others who had to drink from the cup:
the king of Egypt, his officials and leaders;
all the Egyptians and all the foreigners in Egypt;
all the kings of the land of Uz;
all the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod;
all the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon;
all the kings of Tyre and Sidon;
all the kings of the Mediterranean lands;
the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz;
all the people who cut their hair short;
all the kings of Arabia;
all the kings of the desert tribes;
all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;
all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another.
Every nation on the face of the earth had to drink from it. Last of all, the king of Babylonia will drink from it.
27 Then the Lord said to me, “Tell the people that I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, am commanding them to drink until they are drunk and vomit, until they fall down and cannot get up, because of the war that I am sending against them. 28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, then tell them that the Lord Almighty has said that they will still have to drink from it. 29 I will begin my work of destruction in my own city. Do they think they will go unpunished? No, they will be punished, for I am going to send war on all the people on earth. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.
30 “You, Jeremiah, must proclaim everything I have said. You must tell these people,
‘The Lord will roar from heaven
and thunder from the heights of heaven.
He will roar against his people;
he will shout like a man treading grapes.
Everyone on earth will hear him,
31 and the sound will echo to the ends of the earth.
The Lord has a case against the nations.
He will bring all people to trial
and put the wicked to death.
The Lord has spoken.’”
32 The Lord Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth. 33 On that day the bodies of those whom the Lord has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.
Read full chapterScripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
