< Jeremiah 25 >
1 The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spake to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: —
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, for three and twenty years, the word of Jehovah hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
4 Also Jehovah hath sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 “Turn ye now,” said they, “every one from your evil way, and from your evil doings, and ye shall dwell in the land which Jehovah gave to you and to your fathers for ever and ever.
6 And go not after strange gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.”
7 But ye have not hearkened to me, saith Jehovah, that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not hearkened to my words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the nations of the North, saith Jehovah, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and a perpetual desolation.
10 Yea, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the mill-stones, and the light of the lamp.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 But when seventy years shall have passed, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation for their iniquity, saith Jehovah, and the land of the Chaldaeans, and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14 For they, even they, shall be brought into subjection to many nations and great kings. I will render to them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
15 For thus hath Jehovah, the God of Israel, said to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand; and let all the nations to which I shall send thee drink of it.
16 Let them drink, and stagger, and become mad because of the sword which I am about to send among them.
17 So I took the cup from the hand of Jehovah, and gave it to all the nations to drink, to which Jehovah sent me;
18 to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, and to the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse; [[as it is this day.]]
19 To Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his servants, and to his princes, and to all his people,
20 and all the allied people; and to all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and to Askelon, and to Gaza, and to Ekron, and to the remnant of Ashdod;
21 to Edom, and to Moab, and to the children of Ammon;
22 and to all the kings of Tyre, and to all the kings of Sidon, and to the kings of the lands which are beyond the sea;
23 to Dedan, and to Tema, and to Buz, and to all that shave the cheek;
24 and to all the kings of Arabia, and to all the kings of the allied people who dwell in the desert;
25 and to all the kings of Zimri, and to all the kings of Elam, and to all the kings of Media;
26 and to all the kings of the North, those that are near, and those that are afar off with respect to each other, and to all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 And say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye and be drunken, and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I am about to send among you.
28 And if they refuse to take the cup from thy hand to drink, then say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ye shall surely drink!
29 For behold, upon the city which is called by my name I begin to bring evil; and shall ye go wholly unpunished? Ye shall not go unpunished; for I am about to call the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts.
30 Therefore, prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: —Jehovah shall roar from on high, From his holy habitation shall he utter his voice; He shall roar aloud against his dwelling-place; A shout like that of vintagers shall he raise Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 An outcry shall reach to the ends of the earth; For Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations; He entereth into judgment with all flesh; The wicked will he give up to the sword, saith Jehovah.
32 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the extremities of the earth.
33 At that day shall the slain of Jehovah lie From one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; They shall be dung upon the ground.
34 Howl, O ye shepherds, and cry! Roll yourselves in the dust, ye leaders of the flock, For your time to be slaughtered has come! And I will scatter you, and ye shall fall like a goodly vessel.
35 The shepherds shall have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36 [[Hark!]] the voice of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the leaders of the flock, Because Jehovah layeth waste their pasture!
37 Yea, the peaceful pastures are destroyed Because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
38 He hath left, like a lion, his covert; For their land is become desolate, Because of the wrath of the destroying sword, And because of the fierceness of his anger.
