Seventy Years of Captivity

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 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, [†]these twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, [†]rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4And Yahweh has sent to you all His slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, 5saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the ground which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers forever and ever; 6and do not walk after other gods to [†]serve them and to [†]worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will bring no evil against you.’ 7Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares Yahweh, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own evil demise.

8“Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Because you have not listened to My words, 9behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will [†]devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting waste place. 10Moreover, I will [†]make the voice of joy 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, to perish from them. 11This whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Punishment Against Babylon

12‘Then it will be when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, even the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14—[†]For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands—’”

15For thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

17Then I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it: 18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a waste place, an object of horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people, 20and all the [†]foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod), 21Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon, 22and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea, 23and Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut [†]the corners of their hair, 24and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the [†]foreign people who dwell in the desert, 25and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media, 26and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of [†]Sheshach shall drink after them.

27“You shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’ 28And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “You shall surely drink! 29For behold, I am beginning to bring evil against this city which is called by My name. But shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares Yahweh of hosts.’

30“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,

‘Yahweh will roar from on high

And give forth His voice from His holy habitation;

He will roar mightily against His [†]pasture.

He will bellow a shout like those who tread the grapes,

Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31A rumbling has come to the end of the earth

Because Yahweh has a contention against the nations.

He is entering into judgment with all flesh;

As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares Yahweh.”

32Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Behold, evil is going forth

From nation to nation,

And a great storm is being stirred up

From the remotest parts of the earth.

33“Those slain by Yahweh on that day will be from one end of the earth to the [†]other. They will not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;

And roll yourselves in ashes, you masters of the flock;

For the days of your slaughter and your scatterings are being fulfilled,

And you will fall like a desirable vessel.

35Refuge will perish from the shepherds

And escape from the mighty ones of the flock.

36Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,

And the wailing of the mighty ones of the flock!

For Yahweh is destroying their pasture,

37And the peaceful pastures are made silent

Because of the burning anger of Yahweh.

38He has forsaken His hiding place like the lion;

For their land has become an object of horror

Because of the burning desire of [†]the oppressor

And because of His burning anger.”