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25
1 This is the message that came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It concerned all the people of Judah. 2 So the prophet Jeremiah went and spoke to all the people of Judah and all the people living in Jerusalem, telling them:
3 From the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah until now, twenty-three years in total, messages from the Lord have come to me, and I have told you what he said time and again, but you have not listened. 4 Even though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you time and again, you don't bother to listen or pay any attention.
5 The consistent message has been: Give up your evil ways and the evil things you're doing so you can live in the country that the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever. 6 Don't follow other gods and worship them, and don't anger me by making idols.*“By making idols:” literally, “by the works of your hands.” Then I won't do anything to hurt you.
7 But you've hurt yourselves by not listening to me, declares the Lord, because you angered me by making idols. 8 So this is what the Lord Almighty says: Because you have not obeyed what I told you, 9 watch as I summon all the people of the north, declares the Lord. I'm going to send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack this country and the people who live here, and all the surrounding nations. I will set them apart for destruction.†A term used for an action that dedicated something to the Lord in terms of destroying it. See for example Joshua 6:17. I'm going to totally destroy you, and people will be horrified at what's happened to you and will mock you.
10 I will also put a stop to the cheerful sounds of celebration and the happy voices of the bride and bridegroom. No noise will come from millstones being used; no lamps will be lit. 11 This whole country will become an empty wasteland, and Judah and these other nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 However, when these seventy years are over, I'm going to punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the country of Babylonia, for their sin, declares the Lord. I will completely destroy them.
13 I will bring down on that country everything I threatened to do, everything that's written in this book which Jeremiah prophesied against all the different nations. 14 Many nations and powerful kings will make slaves of them, the Babylonians, and I will pay them back for the evil they've done.
15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, told me: Take this cup I'm handing to you. It contains the wine of my anger. You are to make all the nations I send you to drink from it. 16 They will drink and stumble around and go mad because of the war brought by the armies I'm sending to attack them.‡Literally, “because of the sword which I am sending among them.”
17 I took the cup the Lord handed to me and made all the nations drink from it that he sent me to: 18 to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, destroying them so that people were horrified at what happened to them and mocked them and cursed them (and they are still like this today); 19 to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officials, leaders, all his people 20 and all the foreigners living there; to all the kings of the country of Uz; to all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what's left of Ashdod; 21 to Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 to all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; to the kings of the Mediterranean sea coast; 23 to Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all those who trim their hair on the sides of their heads; 24 to all the kings of Arabia; and to all the kings of the different tribes living in the desert; 25 to all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26 to all the kings of the north; in fact to all the kingdoms on earth whether close or far away, one after another. After all of them, the king of Babylon§“Babylon”: literally, “Sheshach”, a code name for Babylon. will drink it too.
27 Tell them this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, make yourselves drunk, and vomit. Because of the war you'll be killed, falling down never to get up again.
28 If they should refuse to take the cup and drink from it, tell them that this is what the Lord Almighty says: You can't avoid drinking it—you have to! 29 Can't you see that I'm about to bring disaster down on my own city, so do you really think you wouldn't be punished as well? You won't go unpunished, for I am bringing war to everyone on earth, declares the Lord Almighty. 30 Give this whole message as a prophecy against them. Tell them:
The Lord will thunder from high above. He will thunder loudly from the holy place where he lives. He will give a great roar against the sheepfolds.*“Sheepfolds”: or “shepherd's homes.” Also verse 37. He will give a loud shout like people treading the grapes, frightening everyone who lives on earth. 31 The sound will reach everywhere on the earth because the Lord is accusing the nations. He is judging everyone, executing the wicked, declares the Lord.
32 This is what the Lord Almighty says: Watch out! Disaster is falling on one nation after another; an immense storm is building up in the far distance. 33 Those killed by the Lord at that time will cover the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn them, or collect them, or bury them. They will be like piles of manure lying on the ground.
34 Cry out and weep, you shepherds! Roll around on the ground mourning, you leaders of the flock. The time for you to be killed has come; you will fall, smashed like the finest pottery. 35 The shepherds won't be able to run away; the leaders of the flock won't escape. 36 Listen to the cries of the shepherds, the weeping of the leaders of the flock, for the Lord is destroying their pasturelands. 37 The peaceful sheepfolds have been ruined because of the Lord's fierce anger. 38 The Lord has left his den like a lion, because their country has been devastated by the invading armies, and because of the Lord's fierce anger.

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*25:6 “By making idols:” literally, “by the works of your hands.”

†25:9 A term used for an action that dedicated something to the Lord in terms of destroying it. See for example Joshua 6:17.

‡25:16 Literally, “because of the sword which I am sending among them.”

§25:26 “Babylon”: literally, “Sheshach”, a code name for Babylon.

*25:30 “Sheepfolds”: or “shepherd's homes.” Also verse 37.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher