Jeremiah 25
Complete Jewish Bible
25 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Y’hudah in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah; this was also the first year of N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel. 2 Yirmeyahu the prophet proclaimed it before all the people of Y’hudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim: 3 “For twenty-three years, since the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah, until today, the word of Adonai has come to me; and I have proclaimed it to you on numerous occasions; but you haven’t listened. 4 Moreover, Adonai sent you all his servants the prophets — again, on numerous occasions — but you didn’t listen or pay attention. 5 The message was always: ‘Every one of you, turn back from his evil way, from the evil of your actions. Then you will live in the land Adonai gave you and your ancestors forever and ever. 6 Don’t follow other gods by serving and worshipping them. “Don’t provoke my anger with things your own hands have made; then I will do you no harm. 7 But you wouldn’t listen to me,” says Adonai, “so that you could provoke me with the products of your hands, to your own harm.”
8 “Therefore, here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Because you haven’t paid attention to what I’ve been saying, 9 I’m going to send for all the families of the north,’ says Adonai, ‘and for my servant N’vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, and bring them against this land, against its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them, making them an object of horror and ridicule, a perpetual ruin. 10 Moreover, I will silence among them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride, the grinding of millstones and the light of lamps. 11 This entire land will become a ruin, a waste; and these nations will serve the king of Bavel for seventy years. 12 But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Bavel and that nation for their sin,’ says Adonai, ‘and I will turn the land of the Kasdim into everlasting ruins. 13 I will inflict on that land all my words that I have decreed against it, everything written in this book, in which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For they too will become slaves to many nations and to powerful kings; I will pay them back according to their deeds and the work of their own hands.’
15 “For here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says to me: ‘Take this cup of the wine of fury from my hand, and make all the nations where I am sending you drink it. 16 They will drink, stagger to and fro and behave like crazy people because of the sword that I will send among them.’”
17 Then I took the cup from Adonai’s hand and made all the nations drink, where Adonai had sent me — 18 Yerushalayim and the cities of Y’hudah, along with their kings and leaders, to make them a ruin and an object of horror, ridicule and cursing, as it is today; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants and leaders and all his people, both native 20 and foreign; all the kings of the land of ‘Utz; all the kings of the land of the P’lishtim, Ashkelon, ‘Azah, ‘Ekron and those remaining in Ashdod; 21 Edom, Mo’av, and the people of ‘Amon; 22 all the kings of Tzor, of Tzidon and of the coastlands across the sea; 23 D’dan, Teima, Buz and all who cut the corners of their beards; 24 all the kings of Arabia and of the mixed peoples living in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, of ‘Eilam and of the Medes; 26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another — indeed, all the kingdoms of the world that there are on the surface of the earth. And the king of Sheshakh will drink last of all.
27 “You are to say to them, ‘Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: Drink until you’re so drunk that you throw up, fall down, and never get up again, because of the sword I am sending among you!’ 28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, then say to them, ‘Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: You must drink! 29 For, look! — if I am bringing disaster on the city that bears my own name, do you expect to go unpunished? Yes, I will summon a sword for all the inhabitants of the earth,’ says Adonai.
30 “As for you, [Yirmeyahu,] prophesy all these words against them; say to them,
‘Adonai is roaring from on high,
raising his voice from his holy dwelling,
roaring with might against his own habitation,
shouting out loud, like those who tread grapes,
against everyone living on earth.
31 The sound resounds to the ends of the earth,
for Adonai is indicting the nations,
about to pass judgment on all humankind;
the wicked he has handed over to the sword,’
says Adonai.” 32 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Disaster is spreading from nation to nation,
a mighty tempest is being unleashed
from the farthest ends of the earth.”
33 On that day, those killed by Adonai will be strewn
from one end of the earth to the other;
they will not be mourned or gathered or buried,
but will lie on the ground like dung.
34 “Wail, shepherds! Cry!
Wallow in the dust, you lords of the flock!
For the days for your slaughter have come.
I will break you in pieces,
and like a prized vase you will fall.”
35 The shepherds have no way to flee,
the lords of the flock no way to escape.
36 Hear the cry of the shepherds,
the wails of the lords of the flock!
For Adonai is destroying their pasture,
37 the peaceful grazing grounds are silenced,
because of Adonai’s fierce anger.
38 Like a lion, he has abandoned his lair;
for their land has become desolate
because of the oppressor’s fierce sword
and because of Adonai’s fierce anger.
Jeremiah 25
EasyEnglish Bible
Judah's people will be in a foreign land for 70 years
25 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim ruled Judah as king. Jehoiakim was the son of King Josiah. It was also the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. The Lord's message was about the people of Judah. 2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem.
3 He said, ‘For 23 years the Lord has been giving me his messages. I started to tell you his messages when Amon's son Josiah had been ruling Judah for 13 years. I have continued to tell you many times what the Lord has said, even until today. But you have refused to listen.
4 The Lord has also sent his servants, the prophets, to speak to you many times. You have refused to listen to them too. 5 The Lord's message to you was, “Turn away from your wicked way of life. Stop doing the evil things that you are doing. If you do that, you may continue to live in this land. It is the land that the Lord gave to you and to your ancestors to be their home for ever. 6 Do not look for other gods that you can serve and worship. Do not continue to do things that make me angry. Then I will not hurt you.”
7 So now the Lord says, “You have refused to listen to my messages. You have continued to do things that make me angry. So you have brought trouble on yourselves.”
8 The Lord Almighty says, “You have not listened to my messages. 9 So I, the Lord, tell you that I will call the nations in the north to come. I will call my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to come. I will bring them to attack this land and the people who live here. They will also attack all the nations that are around you. I will completely destroy this land, its people and all the nations around it. Their houses will become heaps of stones for ever. The land will become a terrible place. People will always see how foolish my people are. 10 Everywhere, I will stop people's happy songs and their marriage parties. Nobody will make flour any more. Nobody will light lamps in their homes. 11 This whole place will be as empty as a desert. Nobody will live here. The people of Judah and these other nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”
12 The Lord also says, “But after the 70 years have finished, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation. I will punish them for their sins. I will destroy the land of the Babylonians. It will be a heap of stones for ever. 13 I will certainly do to them all the terrible things that I have spoken about. I will do to them everything that is written in this book. I will cause them to have all the trouble that Jeremiah prophesies against all the nations.[a] 14 Many nations and great kings will have power over the king of Babylon and his people. The Babylonians will become their slaves. In that way, I will punish the Babylonians for all the bad things that they did to my people.” ’
Jeremiah's vision of a cup of wine
15 The Lord, Israel's God, said to me, ‘Take this cup from me. It is full of wine that shows my great anger. Take it to the nations where I send you. Make them drink this wine of punishment. 16 When they drink it, they will walk like people who are drunk. They will seem to be crazy, because they know that I will send armies to attack them.’
17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand. In my vision, I took it to the nations where the Lord sent me. I made them drink the wine of his punishment. 18 I went to Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. I made the people of Judah, its kings and its officers drink from the cup. It was to destroy them all. Judah would become a terrible place. People would see that its people are very foolish. They would use their name as a curse. That is already happening today.
19 I also took the cup of punishment to these people:
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officers, his servants and his people;
20 the foreign people who lived in Egypt;
all the kings of Uz;
all the kings of the Philistines (They were the kings of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the people who were still living in Ashdod);
21 the people of Edom, Moab and Ammon;
22 all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon;
the kings of the nations around the Mediterranean Sea;
23 the people of Dedan, Tema, and Buz;
the people who live in the desert and who cut their hair short;
24 all the kings of Arabia and the kings of the tribes who live in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media;
26 all the kings of the nations in the north, those who live near together and those who live far apart;
the people of all the other kingdoms everywhere on the earth.
Finally, the king of Babylon will have to drink the wine of the Lord's great anger.
27 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them that the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “Drink the wine from this cup until you become drunk. Drink so much that you are sick. Drink it until you fall down and cannot get up again, because you know that I will send armies to attack you.”
28 But people may refuse to take the cup from you. They may refuse to drink from it. Then you must tell them that the Lord Almighty says this: “You must drink this wine of my punishment! 29 I have already begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that is my special home. So do not think that I will leave you other nations alone! I will certainly punish you too. I will send war against everyone who lives on the earth. That is what the Lord Almighty says will happen!”
30 Now Jeremiah, prophesy this message against them:
“The Lord will shout from his high place above.
He will roar like a lion that is ready to attack his land.
He will make a noise like thunder from his holy home.
He will shout aloud like people who are stamping on grapes
to make wine.
He will shout against everyone who lives on the earth.
31 People everywhere will hear his message.
The Lord will accuse the nations of their sins,
and he will judge all the people on the earth.
He will send war to kill all the wicked people.”
That is what the Lord says.
32 The Lord Almighty also says this:
“Listen to me! Great trouble will come to every single nation.
War will come like a great storm
from the ends of the earth.”
33 At that time, dead bodies will lie everywhere,
all over the earth.
Those will be people that the Lord has killed.
Nobody will weep for them.
Nobody will take their bodies
to bury them in the ground.
Their dead bodies will lie on the ground like dung.
34 You leaders should have been like shepherds
to take care of my people.
But now it is time for you to weep!
Roll on the ground in the dust!
The time of your death has arrived.
You will lie on the ground,
like pieces of a broken pot.
35 The leaders will not be able to run away and hide.
The shepherds of my people will not escape.
36 Listen to the leaders as they weep!
The Lord's people were like their sheep.
Now the shepherds are weeping loudly,
because the Lord is destroying their fields.
37 The Lord will completely destroy the fields
where the sheep quietly ate the grass.
He will do that because he is very angry.
38 The Lord will come out,
like a lion that comes out of its cave.
He will make their land a terrible place.
Cruel armies will destroy the land,
because of the Lord's great anger.’
Footnotes
- 25:13 See Jeremiah 46:1—51:58.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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