Jeremiah 25:28-38

Contemporary English Version

²⁸The 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. ²⁹Starting with my own city of Jerusalem, everyone on earth will suffer from war. So there is no way I will let you escape unharmed.”

³⁰The 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.
³¹My voice will be heard
    everywhere on earth,
accusing nations of their crimes
and sentencing the guilty
    to death.

Disaster Is Coming

³²The Lord All-Powerful says:

You can see disaster spreading
from far across the earth,
from nation to nation
like a horrible storm.

³³When 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

³⁴The 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.^[a]
So roll on the ground,
    crying and mourning.
³⁵You have nowhere to run,
    nowhere to hide.

* ^36-37Listen to the cries
    of the shepherds,
as the Lord's burning anger
turns^[b] peaceful meadows
    into barren deserts.
³⁸Like a lion leaving its den,
the Lord has abandoned
his people
    to the destruction of war.