Jeremiah 25:3-12

Christian Standard Bible

³ “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon,^(A) king of Judah, until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again,^[a](B) but you have not obeyed. ⁴ The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again,^[b] but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.^{[c](C) 5} He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds.^(D) Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever.^{(E) 6} Do not follow other gods to serve them and to bow in worship to them,^(F) and do not anger me by the work of your hands.^(G) Then I will do you no harm.

⁷ “‘But you have not obeyed me’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘with the result that you have angered me by the work of your hands and brought disaster on yourselves.’

⁸ “Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹ I am going to send for all the families of the north’^(H)—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for my servant^(I) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror^(J) and scorn, and ruins forever.^{(K) 10} I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride,^(L) the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.^{(M) 12} When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it a ruin forever.^(N)