Seventy Years of Not Being Free

25 This is the word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. (That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.) ² Jeremiah the man of God spoke this word to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, saying, ³ “These twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day, the Word of the Lord has come to me. And I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. ⁴ The Lord has sent to you all his servants who have spoken for Him again and again, but you have not listened or turned your ear to hear. ⁵ They have said, ‘Every one of you turn now from your sinful way and the sinful things you do, and live on the land which the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them. Do not make Me angry with the work you do, and I will not hurt you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord. “You have made Me angry with the work of your hands to your own hurt. ⁸ “So the Lord of All says, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, ⁹ I will send for all the families of the north. And I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its people, and against all these nations around you. I will make a complete end of them. I will destroy them all and make them an object of fear and hate, and a waste place forever. ¹⁰ I will also take from them the voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride. I will take from them the sound of the grinding stones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This whole land will be a waste and a cause of fear. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹² ‘Then when seventy years have past, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, and the land of the Babylonians, for their sin,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will make that land a waste forever. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has spoken against all the nations. ¹⁴ They themselves will be made to serve many nations and great kings. I will pay them for what they have done, and for the work of their hands.’”

The Cup of God’s Anger

¹⁵ For the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of anger from My hand. And make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶ They will drink and have trouble walking and become crazy because of the sword that I will send among them.” ¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it. ¹⁸ I was sent to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, to its kings and its leaders, to make them a waste, an object of fear and hate, and a curse, as it is this day. ¹⁹ I was sent to Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his sons, and to all his people. ²⁰ I was sent to all the people from different countries, all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and those left of Ashdod). ²¹ I was sent to Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, ²² and to all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and to the kings of the lands across the sea. ²³ I was sent to Dedan, Tema, Buz, to all who are far away in their lands, ²⁴ to the kings of Arabia, and to all the kings of the different people who live in the desert. ²⁵ I was sent to all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, all the kings of Media, ²⁶ and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another. I was sent to all the nations on the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach will drink.

²⁷ “Then you will say to them, ‘The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “Drink, be drunk, throw up, fall, and get up no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”’ ²⁸ And if they will not take the cup from your hand to drink, then say to them, ‘The Lord of All says, “You must drink! ²⁹ See, I am beginning to make trouble in this city which is called by My name. And will you not be punished? You will not be free from punishment, for I am bringing a sword against all the people of the earth,” says the Lord of All.’

³⁰ “So you should speak all these words against them. Tell them, ‘The Lord will sound from on high. His voice will be heard from His holy place. He will call out in a loud voice against his flock. He will call out like those who crush the grapes, against all the people of the earth. ³¹ The noise will go to the ends of the earth, because the Lord has something against the nations. He is deciding what should be done with all flesh. As for the sinful, He has given them to the sword,’” says the Lord.

³² The Lord of All says, “See, sinful ways are spreading from nation to nation. A powerful storm is moving from the farthest parts of the earth. ³³ Those killed by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. No one will cry for them or gather up the bodies and bury them. They will be like animal waste on the ground. ³⁴ Cry in a loud voice, you shepherds. And roll in ashes, you leaders of the flock. For the days for you to be killed and sent everywhere have come, and you will fall and be broken like a fine pot. ³⁵ The shepherds will have no place to run. And the leaders of the flock will have no place to get away. ³⁶ Listen to the cry of the shepherds and the loud cry of the leaders of the flock! For the Lord is destroying their field. ³⁷ The fields of peace are laid waste because of the burning anger of the Lord. ³⁸ He has left His hiding place like a lion. For their land has become a cause of much fear because of the sword of the one who makes it hard for them, and because of the Lord’s burning anger.”

Jeremiah’s Trial

26 In the beginning of the rule of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, ² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the open space of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house. Tell them all the words that I have told you to say to them. Do not leave out one word! ³ It may be they will listen and everyone will turn from his sinful way. Then I may change My mind about the trouble I plan to put on them because of the sinful things they have done.’ ⁴ And tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “If you will not listen to Me and follow My Law which I have set before you, ⁵ and if you do not listen to the words of My servants who speak for Me, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened, ⁶ then I will make this House of God like Shiloh. And I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’”

⁷ The religious leaders and the men of God and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸ And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had told him to speak to all the people, the religious leaders and men of God and all the people took hold of him, saying, “You must die! ⁹ Why have you spoken in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be laid waste with no one living in it’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ When the leaders of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat beside the New Gate of the Lord’s house. ¹¹ Then the religious leaders and men of God said to the leaders and to all the people, “This man must die! For he has spoken against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.” ¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the leaders and to all the people, “The Lord sent me to speak against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. ¹³ So now change your ways and your works, and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change His mind about the trouble He has said would come to you. ¹⁴ But as for me, see, I am in your hands. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵ Only know for sure that if you put me to death, you will bring the sin of killing a man who is not guilty on yourselves, on this city, and on its people. For it is true that the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words for you to hear.”

¹⁶ Then the leaders and all the people said to the religious leaders and men of God, “No, this man should not be put to death! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ¹⁷ Then some of the leaders of the land stood up and said to all the people who had gathered, ¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth spoke in God’s name in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah. He said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord of All has said: Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be destroyed. And trees will cover the mountain where the Lord’s house is.’ ¹⁹ Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and pray for the Lord’s favor? And the Lord changed His mind about the trouble He had said would come to them. But we are about to bring a very bad thing on ourselves.”

²⁰ There was another man who spoke in the name of the Lord. He was Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He spoke against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹ When King Jehoiakim and all his powerful men and all his leaders heard his words, the king wanted to put Uriah to death. But Uriah heard about it, and he was afraid and ran away to Egypt. ²² Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him to Egypt. ²³ And they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword. Then he threw his dead body where most people are buried.

²⁴ But Ahikam the son of Shaphan helped Jeremiah, so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

Things That Will Happen in the Last Days

3 You must understand that in the last days there will come times of much trouble. ² People will love themselves and money. They will have pride and tell of all the things they have done. They will speak against God. Children and young people will not obey their parents. People will not be thankful and they will not be holy. ³ They will not love each other. No one can get along with them. They will tell lies about others. They will not be able to keep from doing things they know they should not do. They will be wild and want to beat and hurt those who are good. ⁴ They will not stay true to their friends. They will act without thinking. They will think too much of themselves. They will love fun instead of loving God. ⁵ They will do things to make it look as if they are Christians. But they will not receive the power that is for a Christian. Keep away from such people.

⁶ These are the kind of people who go from house to house. They talk to foolish women who are loaded down with sins and all kinds of sinful desires. ⁷ Such women are always listening to new teaching. But they are never able to understand the truth. ⁸ Jannes and Jambres fought against Moses. So do these teachers fight against the truth today. Their minds think only of sinful things. They have turned against the Christian teaching. ⁹ They will not get very far. Their foolish teaching will be seen by everyone. That was the way it was with the two who worked against Moses.

Teach the Truth

¹⁰ But you know what I teach and how I live. You know what I want to do. You know about my faith and my love. You know how long I am willing to wait for something. You know how I keep on working for God even when it is hard for me. ¹¹ You know about all the troubles and hard times I have had. You have seen how I suffered in the cities of Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. Yet the Lord brought me out of all those troubles. ¹² Yes! All who want to live a God-like life who belong to Christ Jesus will suffer from others. ¹³ Sinful men and false teachers will go from bad to worse. They will lead others the wrong way and will be led the wrong way themselves.

¹⁴ But as for you, hold on to what you have learned and know to be true. Remember where you learned them. ¹⁵ You have known the Holy Writings since you were a child. They are able to give you wisdom that leads to being saved from the punishment of sin by putting your trust in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All the Holy Writings are God-given and are made alive by Him. Man is helped when he is taught God’s Word. It shows what is wrong. It changes the way of a man’s life. It shows him how to be right with God. ¹⁷ It gives the man who belongs to God everything he needs to work well for Him.