Jeremiah 25
Expanded Bible
A Summary of Jeremiah’s Preaching
25 This is the message that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah and the first year Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. 2 This is the message Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
3 The Lord has spoken his word to me again and again for these past twenty-three years. I have been a prophet since the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. I have spoken messages from the Lord to you from that time until today, but you have not listened.
4 The Lord has sent all his servants the prophets [7:25; 2 Kin. 17:13] to you over and over again, but you have not listened or ·paid any attention [L inclined/bent your ear] to them. 5 Those prophets have said, “·Stop [Turn from/Repent of] your evil ways. ·Stop doing [Turn from/Repent of] what is wrong so you can stay in the land that the Lord gave to you and your ·ancestors [fathers] to live in forever. 6 Don’t ·follow [L go after] other gods to serve them or to ·worship [bow down to] them. Don’t make me, the Lord, angry by the work of your own hands [C idols], or I will ·punish [harm] you.”
7 “But you [C people of Judah] did not listen to me,” says the Lord. “You made me angry by the work of your own hands [C idols], so I ·punished [harmed] you.”
8 So this is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] says: “Since you have not listened to my messages, 9 I will send for all the ·peoples [clans; families] of the north [C Babylon],” says the Lord, “along with my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I will bring them all against Judah, those who live there, and all the nations around you, too. I will ·completely destroy [annihilate] all those countries and leave them ·in ruins [desolate] forever. ·People will be shocked when they see how badly I have destroyed those countries [L I will make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting reproach]. 10 I will ·bring an end to [banish; cause to perish] the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and bridegrooms [7:34; 16:9], and the sound of ·people grinding meal [L the millstone]. And I will take away the light of the lamp. 11 That whole ·area [L land] will be an ·empty desert [ruin and desolate], and these nations will ·be slaves of [serve] the king of Babylon [C Nebuchadnezzar] for seventy years [C the exile].
12 “But when the seventy years ·have passed [are completed], I will punish the king of Babylon and his entire nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their ·evil [iniquity],” says the Lord. “I will make that land a ·desert [desolation] forever. 13 I will ·make happen [L bring on this land] all the ·terrible things [L words] I said about it [C Babylonia]—everything Jeremiah prophesied about all those foreign nations, the warnings written in this book [chs. 46–51]. 14 Even they [C Babylonians] will have to serve many nations and many great kings. I will ·give them the punishment they deserve for all their own hands have done [L repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands].”
Judgment on the Nations
15 The Lord, the God of Israel, said this to me: “Take the cup of the wine of my wrath [49:12; 51:7] from my hand and make all the nations, to whom I am sending you, drink from this cup. 16 They will drink and ·stumble about [stagger; or vomit] and act like madmen because of the ·war [L sword] I am going to send among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and went to those nations where he sent me and made them drink from it. 18 I served this wine to the people of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and the kings and officers of Judah, so they would become a ruin. Then people would be shocked and would ·insult them [hiss] and ·speak evil of [curse] them. And so it has been to this day. 19 I also made these people drink of the Lord’s anger: Pharaoh the king of Egypt, his servants, his officers, all his people, 20 and all the ·foreigners there [mixed crowd]; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (the kings of the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 21 the people of Edom, Moab, and ·Ammon [L the sons of Ammon]; 22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; all the kings of the coastal countries ·to the west [or across the sea]; 23 the people of Dedan and Tema and Buz; all who ·cut their hair short [L shave their temples; Deut. 14:1]; 24 all the kings of Arabia; and the kings of the ·people [L mixed crowd] who live in the ·desert [wilderness]; 25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other. I made all the kingdoms on earth drink [C from the cup of wrath] of the Lord’s anger, but the king of ·Babylon [L Sheshak; C a coded reference to Babylon] will drink from this cup after all the others.
27 “Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts], the God of Israel, says: Drink ·this cup [C of my anger]. Get drunk from it and vomit. Fall down and don’t get up because of the ·war [L sword] I am sending among you!’
28 “If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them, ‘The Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] says this: You must drink [C from this cup]. 29 Look! I am ·already bringing [beginning to bring] ·disaster [harm; trouble] on this city that is called by my name [C Jerusalem]. Do you think you will not be punished? You will ·be punished [L not go unpunished]! I am ·sending [L calling for] ·war [L a sword] on all the people of the earth, says the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].’
30 “You [C Jeremiah] will prophesy against them with all these words. Say to them:
‘The Lord will roar [C like a lion] from heaven [Amos 1:2]
and will ·shout [L give forth] from his holy lair [C the Temple].
He will roar loudly against his ·land [L sheepfold].
He will shout like people who walk on grapes [Is. 63:2–6; Rev. 19:15];
he will shout against all who live on the earth.
31 The ·noise [clamor] will spread all over the earth,
because the Lord will accuse all the nations.
He will ·judge and tell what is wrong with [bring an indictment against] all ·people [L flesh],
and he will kill the evil people with a sword,’” says the Lord.
32 This is what the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts] says:
“Disasters will soon ·spread [L go out]
from nation to nation.
They will come like a powerful storm
from the faraway places on earth.”
33 At that time those killed by the Lord will reach from one end of the earth to the other. No one will ·cry [mourn] for them or gather up their bodies and bury them. They will be left lying on the ground like dung [8:2; 9:22; 16:4].
34 Cry, you ·leaders [L shepherds]! Cry out loud!
Roll around in the ·dust [ashes], ·leaders of the people [L nobles of the flock]!
·It is now time for you to be killed [L Your days are filled for slaughter].
You will fall and be scattered,
like ·pieces of a broken [L a choice/precious] jar.
35 There will be no place for the ·leaders [L shepherds] to ·hide [L flee];
·they [L the nobles of the flock] will not escape.
36 I hear the sound of the ·leaders [L shepherds] shouting.
I hear the ·leaders of the people [L nobles of the flock] crying loudly,
because the Lord is destroying their ·land [L pastureland].
37 Those peaceful pastures will be ·like an empty desert [L devastated],
because the Lord is very angry.
38 Like a lion, he has left his den.
Their land has been ·destroyed [desolated]
because of the terrible ·war [L sword] he brought,
because of his fierce anger.
Jeremiah 25
Amplified Bible
Prophecy of the Captivity
25 The word that came to Jeremiah in regard to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of the reign 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 “For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened. 4 Although the Lord has persistently sent to you all His servants the prophets, you have not listened nor [even] inclined your ear to hear [His message], 5 saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; 6 and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’ 7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].(A) 11 This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon [a]seventy years.(B)
Babylon Will Be Judged
12 ‘Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),’ says the Lord, ‘for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.(C) 13 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 against all the nations. 14 (For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)’”
15 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then I (Jeremiah) took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;(D) 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people, 20 and all the foreign (mixed) population, all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz [the neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the side-growth of their hair;(E) 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign population who live in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media; 26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another—and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach (Babylon) shall drink after them.
27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’ 28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “You shall surely drink! 29 For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’(F)
30 “Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them:
‘The Lord will roar from on high
And utter His voice from His holy dwelling;
He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture.
He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press],
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31
‘A noise has come to the end of the earth,
For the Lord has a controversy with and an indictment against the nations.
He is entering into judgment with all mankind;
As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ says the Lord.”
32
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great whirling tempest is rising
From the remotest part of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented (mourned over with expressions of grief) or gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the ground.(G)
34
“Wail, you shepherds, and cry;
And roll in ashes, you masters of the flock.
For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have come in full,
And you will fall and be broken into pieces like a choice vessel.
35
“The shepherds will have no way to flee,
Nor the masters of the flock any [way of] escape.
36
“A voice! The cry of the shepherds
And the wailing of the masters of the flock!
For the Lord is destroying their pasture,
37
“And the peaceful folds are devastated and made silent
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38
“He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land has become a horror
Because of the fierceness of the oppressor
And because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 25:11 As history shows, this prophecy was fulfilled, whether it refers to the duration of the Babylonian Empire (from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in 605 b.c. until its downfall in 539 b.c.), or to the length of the Jewish captivity in Babylon (with the first deportation in 605 b.c. and the first return in 538 b.c.). For the fulfillment of specific details concerning the destruction and perpetual desolation of Babylon, see notes Is 13:22; 14:23.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
