OET-RV JER Chapter 25

25 This is the message that came to Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) concerning all the people of Yehudah (Judah) in the fourth year of the reign of Yehoyakim (Jehoiakim, son of Yehudah’s King Yoshiyah (Josiah)), which was the first year of the reign of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The prophet Yirmeyah proclaimed this to all the people across Yehudah including all of Yerushalem’s inhabitants, saying: 3 Yahweh’s messages have been coming to me for twenty-three years since the thirteenth year of the reign of Yehudah’s king Yoshiyah (Josiah, Amon’s son), and I’ve passed them on to you all over and over again, but you haven’t taken any notice of them. 4 Yahweh sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, but you all haven’t listened or paid any attention. 5 Those prophets said, ‘Let everyone turn from their wicked ways and their evil activities, and return to the land that Yahweh gave in ancient times to your ancestors and to all of you as a permanent inheritance. 6 So don’t walk after other gods to worship them or to bow down to them, and don’t provoke him with things you make with your hands, and then he won’t harm you all.’ 7 But Yahweh declares that you all haven’t listened to me, because with what you’ve made, you’ve provoked me to do harm to you.

8 So Commander-in-chief Yahweh says this: Since all of you haven’t listen to my messages, 9 listen, I’m about to send out a command to fetch all the northern peoples. Yahweh declares that I will bring my servant, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and his armies against this land and its inhabitants, and against all the nations around you. I will mark them for destruction and turn them into a horror—something to be hissed at, and permanent ruins. 10 I’ll put an end to the sounds of gladness and celebration, the sounds of brides and grooms, and the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.[ref] 11 Then all of this land will become a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the Babylonian king for seventy years.[ref]

12 Then after seventy years have passed, then I’ll punish the king of Babylon and that nation—the land of the Chaldeans—for their wickedness, and make it into a permanent wasteland. That is Yahweh’s declaration. 13 Then I’ll carry out all the messages that I’d spoken against that land, and everything written in this document that Yirmeyah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 Yes many other nations and great kings will also make slaves out of those nations. I’ll repay them for everything they’ve done.

15 Yes Yisrael’s god Yahweh told me, “Take this cup of the wine of fury from my hand, and all the nations that I’m sending you to, make them drink it. 16 They’ll drink and then stagger around and act like mad people when they see the deadly army that I’m sending out to them.

17 So I took the cup from Yahweh’s hand and made all the nations that he’d sent me to, drink from it, 18 as well as Yehudah’s cities including Yerushalem and its king and officials—to turn them into ruins and something terrifying, and into something to hiss and curse at, as they are until this present day. 19 Those nations included:

• Egypt’s King Far’oh (Pharaoh), his officials, his leaders, and all his people,
• 20 all people of mixed heritage and all the kings of the land of Uts,
• all the kings of the land of Philistia: Ashkelon, Azzah (Gaza), Ekron, and the remnant from Ashdod,
• 21 Edom, Moav, and the Ammonites,
• 22 all the kings of Tsor (Tyre) and Tsidon (Sidon),
• the kings from the coastlands across the sea,
• 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz,
• and all who cut the corners of their hair,
• 24 all the Arabian kings,
• and all the kings of the mixed tribes who live in the desert,
• 25 all the kings from Zimri, Elam, and Media,
• 26 all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another,
• all the kingdoms around the world.

And after all of them, the Babylonian[fn] king will drink it too.

27 Then Yahweh told me to tell them, ‘Yisrael’s god, Commander-in-chief Yahweh, says this: Drink and become drunk, then vomit, fall down, and don’t get up again until the deadly army arrives that I’m sending among you.’ 28 Then if any of the above refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, tell me, ‘Commander-in-chief Yahweh says that you certainly must drink it, 29 because listen, I’m about to bring disaster to the city that is called by my name, and should you yourselves be free from punishment? You won’t be free, because I’m calling a deadly army against all the inhabitants of the land.’

That is Commander-in-chief Yahweh’s declaration.

30 You must prophesy all these messages against them, telling them:

‘Yahweh will roar from the heights

and he’ll shout with his voice from his sacred residence,

and he will roar mightily against his land,

and he will shout, like those who tread grapes in a wine-pressing pit

against all those who live on the earth.

31 The uproar will be heard even at the ends of the earth

because Yahweh brings a charge against the nations.

He will pass judgment on all humankind

and have the wicked killed in war.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

32 Commander-in-chief says this:

Listen, disaster is spreading from nation to nation.

A terrible storm is rising from the ends of the earth.

33 Then those killed that day by Yahweh will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They won’t be mourned over, gathered, or buried—they’ll be like dung lying on the ground.

34 Wail, you shepherds, and call out for help.

Roll around in the dust, you leaders of the flock,

because the time has come for your slaughter.

You’ll all be scattered when you fall, like fragments of broken pottery.

35 There’s no safe place for the shepherds to go to.

≈ There’ll be no escape for the leaders of the flock.

36 Hear the shepherds’ cries of distrress

≈ and the wails of the leaders of the flock,

→ because Yahweh is destroying their pastures.

37 So the peaceful pastures will be devastated

because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.

38 He’s left his den like a young lion would,

because their land will become a horror

due to the oppressor’s anger and Yahweh’s fierce angry.