Jeremiah 25
1THE word [of God] which came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda in the fourth year of Joakim son of Josias, king of Juda,
2which he spoke to all the people of Juda and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3From the thirteenth year of Josias son of Amos, king of Juda, even to this day, for three and twenty years I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking;
4and I have sent to you My servants the prophets, sending them early, though you have not hearkened nor inclined your ears;
5saying, Turn ye every one from his evil way, and from your wicked pursuits and you shall dwell in this land, which I gave to you and your fathers from age to age.
6Go not after strange gods to serve them, and worship them, that you may not provoke Me by the works of your hands to bring evils upon you.
7But you hearkened not to Me.
8Therefore thus saith the Lord: Since you have not believed My words,
9behold I am sending, and I will take a family from the north and bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and against all the nations around it. And I will lay them waste and make them a desolation and an object of pity and an everlasting reproach.
10And I will destroy from among them the sound of joy and the sound of gladness; the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; the odour of myrrh and the light of the lamp.
11And the whole country shall be a desolation. And they shall be slaves among the nations seventy years.
12And when the seventy years are completed I will execute vengeance on that nation, and make them an everlasting desolation.
13I will indeed bring against that land all these words of Mine which I have spoken against it—all the things which are written in this book which Jeremias prophesied against the nations.*
15Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel: Take this cup of wine—this strong wine from My hand, and thou shalt make all the nations, to which I send thee, drink it.
16And they shall drink and vomit and rave, because of the sword which I send among them.
17So I took the cup out of the hand of the Lord and made all the nations drink to which the Lord sent me,
18namely Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings of Juda, and his chiefs, to make them a desolation and a waste and an object of pity;
19also Pharao king of Egypt and his servants and his nobles and all his people;
20and all the mixed people; and all the kings of the Philistines (namely, Askalon and Gaza and Akkaron and the remnant of Azotus);
21and Idumea and Moab and the children of Ammon;
22and the kings of Tyre and the kings of Sidon; and the kings on the border of the sea;
23and Daidan and Thaiman and Ros, and all that had their foreheads shaven;
24and all the mixed people who dwell in the desert;
25and all the kings of Ailam and all the kings of the Persians
26and all the kings north of the sun, far and near, every one adjoining his brother, even all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
27And thou shalt say to them, Thus said the Lord Almighty: Drink and be drunk, and you shall vomit, and fall and rise no more because of the sword which I send among you.
28And if they refuse to take the cup out of thy hand to drink, then thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord: You shall drink it;
29for in the city which is called by My name I am beginning to inflict calamity and with purification you shall not be purified; for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth.
30Therefore thou shalt prophesy against them all these words and say; The Lord from on high will solemnly pronounce sentence from His sanctuary; He will utter His voice—in His place He will utter a triumphant shout and some like the treaders of grapes will answer. When destruction hath come on the inhabitants of this land—
31upon a part of the earth; because the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will come to judgment with all flesh; and the wicked shall be given up to the sword, saith the Lord.
32Thus saith the Lord: Behold, evils are coming from nation to nation. A mighty tempest is issuing forth from the extremity of the earth,
33and the slain of the Lord shall in the day of the Lord be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be buried. They shall be for dung on the face of the earth. Raise the mournful cry, ye shepherds;
34utter loud moans and lamentations, ye rams of the flock; for the days for your slaughter are accomplished, and ye shall fall like choice rams;
35and the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the rams of the flock to escape.
36Hark! a sound of the shepherds’ screaming! and a doleful bleating of the sheep and the rams! For the Lord hath utterly destroyed their pastures
37and because of His fierce anger He will put an end to the remains of peace.
38Like a lion He hath quitted His covert; therefore their land is become a trackless desert by reason of the mighty sword.