Jeremiah 25:15-38
Contemporary English Version
The Cup Full of God's Anger
15 The Lord God of Israel showed me a vision in which he said, “Jeremiah, here is a cup filled with the wine of my anger. Take it and make every nation drink some. 16 They will vomit and act crazy, because of the war this cup of anger will bring to them.”
17 I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and I went to the kings of the nations and made each of them drink some. 18 I started with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and the king and his officials were removed from power in disgrace. Everyone still makes insulting jokes about them and uses their names as curse words. 19 The second place I went was Egypt, where everyone had to drink from the cup, including the king and his officials, the other government workers, the rest of the Egyptians, 20 and all the foreigners who lived in the country.
Next I went to the king of Uz, and then to the four kings of Philistia, who ruled from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what was left of Ashdod.[a] 21 Then I went to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, 22 and to the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and their colonies across the sea. 23-24 After this, I went to the kings of Dedan, Tema, Buz, the tribes of the Arabian Desert,[b] 25 Zimri, Elam, Media, 26 and the countries in the north, both near and far.
I went to all the countries on earth, one after another, and finally to Babylonia.[c]
27 The Lord had said to tell each king, “The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, commands you to drink from this cup that is full of the wine of his anger. It will make you so drunk that you will vomit. And when the Lord sends war against the nations, you will be completely defeated.”
28 The Lord told me that if any of them refused to drink from the cup, I must tell them that he had said, “I, the Lord All-Powerful, command you to drink. 29 Starting with my own city of Jerusalem, everyone on earth will suffer from war. So there is no way I will let you escape unharmed.”
30 The Lord told me to say:
From my sacred temple
I will roar like thunder,
while I trample my people
and everyone else
as though they were grapes.
31 My voice will be heard
everywhere on earth,
accusing nations of their crimes
and sentencing the guilty
to death.
Disaster Is Coming
32 The Lord All-Powerful says:
You can see disaster spreading
from far across the earth,
from nation to nation
like a horrible storm.
33 When it strikes, I will kill so many people that their bodies will cover the ground like manure. No one will be left to bury them or to mourn.
The Leaders of Judah Will Be Punished
34 The Lord's people are his flock,
and you leaders
were the shepherds.
But now it's your turn
to be butchered like sheep.
You'll shatter like fine pottery
dropped on the floor.[d]
So roll on the ground,
crying and mourning.
35 You have nowhere to run,
nowhere to hide.
* 36-37 Listen to the cries
of the shepherds,
as the Lord's burning anger
turns[e] peaceful meadows
into barren deserts.
38 Like a lion leaving its den,
the Lord has abandoned
his people
to the destruction of war.
Footnotes
- 25.20 what was left of Ashdod: It was defeated by the king of Egypt after being surrounded for 29 years.
- 25.23,24 the tribes of the Arabian Desert: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 25.26 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “Sheshach,” a secret way of writing “Babylonia.”
- 25.34 You'll shatter … floor: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 25.36,37 anger turns: Or “anger and enemy armies turn.”
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