Seventy Years of Desolation

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;

2Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD has come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but you have not hearkened.

4And the LORD has sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

5They said, Turn you again now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever:

6And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no harm.

7Yet you have not hearkened unto me, says the LORD; that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own harm.

8Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Because you have not heard my words,

9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10Moreover 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 millstones, and the light of the lamp.

11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

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

13And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that are written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

14For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

God's Fury on the Nations

15For thus says the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury from my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

16And they shall drink, and stagger, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

17Then took I the cup from the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

18Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

20And all the foreign people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

21Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

22And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea,

23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the farthest corners,

24And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people that dwell in the desert,

25And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

26And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27Therefore you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink, and be drunken, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

28And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then shall you say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; You shall certainly drink.

29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts.

30Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, says the LORD.

32Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.

33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be refuse upon the ground.

34Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, you leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are come; and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.

36A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has plundered their pasture.

37And the peaceful habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

38He has forsaken his lair, like a lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.