Jeremiah 25:11
New International Version
This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

New Living Translation
This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

English Standard Version
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Berean Standard Bible
And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

King James Bible
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

New King James Version
And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

New American Standard Bible
This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

NASB 1995
‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

NASB 1977
‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Legacy Standard Bible
This whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Amplified Bible
This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Christian Standard Bible
This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

American Standard Version
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Contemporary English Version
This country will be as empty as a desert, because I will make all of you the slaves of the king of Babylonia for 70 years.

English Revised Version
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

Good News Translation
This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years.

International Standard Version
This entire land will be a desolation and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

Majority Standard Bible
And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

NET Bible
This whole area will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.'

New Heart English Bible
This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Webster's Bible Translation
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

World English Bible
This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And all this land has been for a desolation, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years.

Young's Literal Translation
And all this land hath been for a waste, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years.

Smith's Literal Translation
All this land was for a waste, for a desolation, and these nations served the king of Babel seventy years.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And this entire land will be in desolation and in stupor. And all these nations will serve the king of Babylon, for seventy years.

New American Bible
This whole land shall be a ruin and a waste. Seventy years these nations shall serve the king of Babylon;

New Revised Standard Version
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And all this land shall be for a wilderness and for an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the King of Babel seventy years
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and a waste; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And all the land shall be a desolation; and they shall serve among the Gentiles seventy years.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Seventy-Year Captivity
10Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

Cross References
Daniel 9:2
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

2 Chronicles 36:20-21
Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. / So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.

Leviticus 26:33-35
But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste. / Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. / As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it.

2 Kings 25:8-12
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. / He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. / And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ...

Ezra 1:1-3
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: / “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. / Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 13:19-22
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. / She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there. / But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about. ...

Jeremiah 29:10
For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

Jeremiah 27:6-7
So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him. / All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

Jeremiah 50:12-13
your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who bore you will be disgraced. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. / Because of the wrath of the LORD, she will not be inhabited; she will become completely desolate. All who pass through Babylon will be horrified and will hiss at all her wounds.

Jeremiah 51:26
No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD.

Revelation 18:2
And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.

Isaiah 14:22-23
“I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD. / “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

Habakkuk 1:5-6
“Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you. / For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

Zechariah 7:5
“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

Matthew 1:11-12
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. / After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,


Treasury of Scripture

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

seventy.

Jeremiah 25:12
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

2 Chronicles 36:21,22
To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years…

Isaiah 23:15-17
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot…

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Astonishment Babylon Cause Country Desolate Desolation Horror Nations Ruin Servants Serve Served Seventy Waste Wasteland Whole Wonder
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Astonishment Babylon Cause Country Desolate Desolation Horror Nations Ruin Servants Serve Served Seventy Waste Wasteland Whole Wonder
Jeremiah 25
1. Jeremiah, reproving the Jews' disobedience to the prophets,
8. foretells the seventy years' captivity;
12. and after that, the destruction of Babylon.
15. Under the type of a cup of wine he foreshows the destruction of all nations.
34. The howling of the shepherds.














And this whole land
The phrase "this whole land" refers to the entirety of Judah and Jerusalem, the southern kingdom of Israel. In Hebrew, the word for "land" is "eretz," which can mean land, earth, or country. This indicates the comprehensive nature of the judgment that God is pronouncing through Jeremiah. The land, once flowing with milk and honey, is now subject to divine judgment due to the people's persistent disobedience and idolatry.

will become a desolate wasteland
The Hebrew word for "desolate" is "shamem," which conveys a sense of devastation and ruin. This prophecy foretells the physical and spiritual desolation that will come upon the land as a result of the Babylonian conquest. Historically, this was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar's armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. The land, once vibrant and fertile, would lie in ruins, symbolizing the spiritual barrenness of the people who had turned away from God.

and these nations
"These nations" refers not only to Judah but also to the surrounding nations that would fall under Babylonian control. The Hebrew word "goyim" is used here, which often denotes Gentile nations. This highlights the far-reaching impact of Babylon's rise to power, as ordained by God. It serves as a reminder that God's sovereignty extends over all nations, and His plans encompass the entire world.

will serve the king of Babylon
The phrase "will serve" comes from the Hebrew "avad," meaning to work or serve. This indicates the subjugation and servitude that the people would experience under Babylonian rule. The "king of Babylon" at the time was Nebuchadnezzar, a powerful ruler used by God as an instrument of judgment. This servitude was both a physical reality and a spiritual metaphor for the consequences of forsaking God.

for seventy years
The "seventy years" is a specific period of time decreed by God for the Babylonian captivity. The number seventy in Hebrew culture often signifies completeness or fulfillment. This period was not arbitrary but divinely appointed, allowing time for the land to rest and for the people to reflect and repent. Historically, this period began with the first deportation in 605 B.C. and ended with the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C., allowing the Jews to return to their homeland. This prophecy underscores God's faithfulness to His word and His ultimate plan for restoration and redemption.

(11) Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years.--This is the first mention of the duration of the captivity. The seventy years are commonly reckoned from B.C. 606, the date of the deportation of Jehoiakim and his princes, to B.C. 536, when the decree for the return of the exiles was issued by Cyrus. In 2Chronicles 36:21 the number is connected with the land "enjoying her Sabbaths," as though the long desolation came as a retribution for the people's neglect of the law of the Sabbatical year, and, perhaps, also for their non-observance of the weekly Sabbaths. (Isaiah 56:4; Jeremiah 17:21-22.) For the apportionment of the reigns of the Babylonian kings that made up the seventy years, see the Chronological Table in the Introduction. Symbolically the number, as the multiple of seven and ten, represents the highest measure of completeness (comp. Matthew 18:22).

Verse 11. - Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Widely different opinions are held as to the meaning of this prophecy. The most probable view is that "seventy" is an indefinite or round number (as in Isaiah 23:17), equivalent to "a very long time." This is supported by the analogy of Jeremiah 27:7, where the captivity is announced as lasting through the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson - a statement evidently vague and indefinite (see ad loc.), and in any case not answering to a period of seventy years. Besides, we find the "seventy years" again in Jeremiah 29:10, a passage written probably eleven years later. Others think the number is to be taken literally, and it is certainly true that from B.C. 606, the fourth year of Jehoiakim, to the fall of Babylon, B.C. 539, sixty-seven years elapsed. But is it desirable to press this against the internal evidence that Jeremiah himself took the number indefinitely?

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And this
הַזֹּ֔את (haz·zōṯ)
Article | Pronoun - feminine singular
Strong's 2063: Hereby in it, likewise, the one other, same, she, so much, such deed, that,

whole
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

land
הָאָ֣רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

will become
וְהָֽיְתָה֙ (wə·hā·yə·ṯāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

a desolate
לְחָרְבָּ֖ה (lə·ḥā·rə·bāh)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2723: Waste, desolation, ruin

wasteland,
לְשַׁמָּ֑ה (lə·šam·māh)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8047: Ruin, consternation

and these
הָאֵ֛לֶּה (hā·’êl·leh)
Article | Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

nations
הַגּוֹיִ֥ם (hag·gō·w·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

will serve
וְעָ֨בְד֜וּ (wə·‘ā·ḇə·ḏū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave

the king
מֶ֥לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Babylon
בָּבֶ֖ל (bā·ḇel)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 894: Babylon -- an eastern Mediterranean empire and its capital city

for seventy
שִׁבְעִ֥ים (šiḇ·‘îm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 7657: Seventy (a cardinal number)

years.
שָׁנָֽה׃ (šā·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8141: A year


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 25:11 This whole land shall be a desolation (Jer.)
Jeremiah 25:10
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