Jeremiah 27

1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 This is what the Lord told me: Make for yourself a harness and a yoke and strap it on your neck

Thus saith the LORD to me; Make for thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

3 Send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of Judah.

And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;

4 Give them this order from the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, to convey to their masters:

And command them to say to their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to your masters;

5 It was by my strength and creative power that I made the earth and the human beings and animals that live there, and I give it to those who are right in my sight.

I have made the earth, the man and the beast that [are] upon the ground, by my great power and by my out-stretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed meet to me.

6 Now I have placed my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in charge of all these countries. I have even given him control over the wild animals.

And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

7 All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time that his own land comes under the control of other nations and powerful kings.

And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come: and then many nations and great kings shall bring him into subjection.

8 Any nation or kingdom that doesn't serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and doesn't submit to him I will punish that nation by war and famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I let Nebuchadnezzar destroy it completely.

And it shall come to pass, [that] the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

9 Don't you listen to your prophets, your fortune-tellers, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your magicians when they tell you, “You won't serve the king of Babylon.”

Therefore hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

10 They're prophesying a lie to you that will lead to your removal from your country. I will expel you and you will die.

For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

11 But a nation that submits to the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave in its own land, to cultivate it and live in it, declares the Lord.

But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell in it.

12 I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah: Submit to the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!

I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

13 Why should you and your people die by war and famine and plague, as the Lord has said he would bring against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 Don't listen to messages from prophets who say, “You won't serve the king of Babylon,” for they are prophesying a lie to you.

Therefore hearken not to the words of the prophets that speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you.

15 I didn't send them, declares the Lord, and yet they are giving false prophecies in my name. So I will expel you and you will die—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.

For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy to you.

16 Then I told the priests and all the people, This is what the Lord says: Don't listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Look! The objects from the Lord's Temple will shortly be returned from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you.

Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.

17 Don't listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city be destroyed?

Hearken not to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city be laid waste?

18 If they are truly prophets and really have the word of the Lord with them, they should be pleading now with the Lord Almighty that what's left in the Lord's Temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, isn't taken to Babylon.

But if they [are] prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.

19 This what the Lord Almighty says about the pillars, the bronze sea, the bases, and the rest of the objects that are left in Jerusalem:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,

20 everything Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn't take when he took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, together with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

21 Again, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the objects left in the Lord's Temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

Yes, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain [in] the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;

22 They will be taken away to Babylon and will stay there until the time I see to them again, declares the Lord. Only then will I bring them back so they will be in Jerusalem again.

They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.