UST JER Chapter 27

◄ JER 27 ► ║ ═ ©

27 Soon after Zedekiah became the king of Judah, Yahweh gave this message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “This is what Yahweh said to me: ‘Make an ox yoke of wooden bars and fasten it around your neck with leather straps. 3 Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the ambassadors from those countries who have come to Jerusalem to meet with King Zedekiah. 4 Tell the ambassadors to give this message to their kings: “This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom the Israelite people worship, says. You must say this to your kings: 5 ‘Because I am very powerful was able to make the earth and the people and the animals that live on it and I give the earth to whoever I please. 6 Now I have allowed my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to control all these lands. I have also given him the wild animals to use as he wishes. 7 The people of all the nations will serve him, and then his son after him, and then his grandson after him, until the time comes for his own nation to serve the nations that conquer it. Then many nations and great kings will conquer him and make him serve them.

8 I will punish any nation or kingdom that refuses to submit to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and refuses to serve him. I will cause those people to experience war, famine, and diseases”—this is what Yahweh declares—“until I have used Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them completely.

9 So do not listen to your false prophets, your fortune-tellers, your dream interpreters, your mediums, or your sorcerers. They keep telling you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer our nation.’ 10 Those people are prophesying lies to you, which will result in removing you far away from your home. I will drive you out, and you will die in a foreign land. 11 However, if the people of any nation submit to the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and they will farm it and live in it.’ ” ’ ”

12 Then I gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. I said to him, “Submit to the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and then you will stay alive. 13 There is no reason for you and your people to die by war, famine, and disease, which is what Yahweh has said will happen to any nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon. 14 Do not pay attention to the prophets who are saying to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer your country,’ because they are prophesying lies to you. 15 I did not send those prophets”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and yet they are saying that I gave them their messages, but they are lying. The result will be that I will drive you out of your land, and you will die, both you and those false prophets who are prophesying lies to you.”

16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, and I said, “This is what Yahweh says: Do not pay attention to what your false prophets say, who tell you, ‘Look, someone will bring back from Babylon the articles from Yahweh’s temple very soon,’ because they are prophesying lies to you. 17 Do not pay attention to them. Serve the king of Babylon and then he will not kill you. There is no reason for this entire city to become a pile of ruins.

18 If those men are really prophets who speak messages from me, then tell them to please plead with me, the commander of the heavenly armies, so that I will not allow soldiers from Babylon to carry off to Babylon the articles that still remain in my temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in the rest of Jerusalem.”

19 I, Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, say this about the pillars that stand in front of the temple, the large bronze water basin, the bronze stands, and all the other articles that are still in this city. 20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left those things here when he took Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, away from Jerusalem to Babylon as a prisoner, along with all the leading people of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 This is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom the Israelite people worship, says about the valuable articles that still remain in Yahweh’s temple and in the king’s palace, and in Jerusalem: 22 “Babylonian soldiers will bring them to Babylon. They will stay there until the day that I decide to give them my attention again”—this is what Yahweh declares—“and then I will bring them back and return them to this place.”