Seventy years of captivity
1 ① This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 2And this word was transmitted by the prophet Jeremiah to all the people of Judah and to all the citizens of Jerusalem:
3“For twenty-three years, that is, from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon until today, the word of Yahweh has come to me and I have continuously spoken to you, 4but you would not listen. Besides Yahweh has sent his servants the prophets to you again and again, but you neither listened nor paid attention. 5They said, ‘Turn from your evil ways and repent of your wicked deeds that you may live in the land that Yahweh gave to you and your ancestors forever and ever. 6Do not turn after other gods to serve and worship them. Do not provoke my anger with these things your own hands have made, and I will do you no harm.’ 7But you refused to listen – it is Yahweh who speaks – and provoked my anger with these gods you yourselves have made to your own detriment.
8That is why Yahweh God of hosts says to you: Since you have not listened to what I said, 9I will summon all the clans of the north – it is Yahweh who speaks – and my steward Nebuchadnezzar will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy these people, making them desolate, an object of ridicule, an everlasting ruins. 10I will banish from them every sound of joy and happiness, the song of the bride and bridegroom, the noise of the mill and the light of the lamp.
11All the land will be a ruin and a desolation and for seventy years these nations will serve the king of Babylon.
12(But after seventy years I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation for their guilt – it is Yahweh who speaks – and I will make it for ever desolate!) 13On this land I will now bring all that I foretold, all that is written in this book. 14They will be subject to great nations and kings! I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
The cup of God’s wrath
15Yahweh, the God of Israel, instructed me, “Take from my hand this cup of wine and let all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16They will drink and stagger and lose control of their minds before the sword I am sending among them.”
17So I took the cup from Yahweh’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink from it: 18Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and waste, an object of ridicule and curse, as they are today. 19Then I gave it to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to his ministers, his princes and all his people, to all the countries of the west, 20to all the kings of Uz, to all the kings of the Philistines in Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and those left at Ashdod; 21to all the people of Edom, Moab and Ammon; 22all the kings of Tyre and Sidon: the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23Deda, Tama, Buz and 24all the kings of Arabia and the kings of the west and the kings of those who live in the desert; 25all the kings of Zimri, Elim and Media and 26all the kings of the north, far and near, one after the other; all the kings that are found on the face of the earth! And after them the king of Babylon shall drink it!
27You will say to them, “This is the message of Yahweh the God of hosts and the God of Israel: ‘Drink, get drunk, vomit, fall without raising again in front of the sword I am sending against you.’
28But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, tell them, ‘Yahweh the God of hosts has spoken: You also must drink. 29When you see that I am punishing first the city where my Name rests, do you think you will be spared? No, you will not, for I am personally bringing down a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth – it is Yahweh God of hosts who speaks.’
30You will communicate all these words to them and say, “Yahweh roars on high and from his holy dwelling threatens all the inhabitants of the world. His mighty roar echoes to the farthest ends of the earth. 31For Yahweh judges all the nations and passes sentence against all humankind, and he abandons the wicked to the sword – word of Yahweh.”
32Yahweh, God of hosts, says, “See, disaster spreads from nation to nation. A storm arises from the ends of the earth. 33On that day Yahweh’s victims will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them; no one will gather them up or bury them – they will be like dung on the soil!
34Howl, shepherds, and lament!
Roll in the dust you leaders of flocks for the day of slaughter and dispersal has come for you and you will fall like fattened rams.
35The shepherds will find no refuge and the leaders of the the flocks will not be able to escape.
36The shepherds cry out and the leaders of flocks wail, 37for Yahweh lays waste the grasslands, and the pastures are silent because of the fury of Yahweh’s anger.
38Like a lion he leaves his lair; because of his fierce wrath the land has been stricken by the sword and has become a wasteland.”
- Jer 25,1 This chapter combines: 25:1-13, an introduction which must have come before Jeremiah's prophecies against the people of Judah and which now form chapters 1-24 of his book. Note in this passage the prophecy concerning the seventy years which was to be the duration of the exile of the Jews in Babylon. It is a symbolic number since there were two exiles, in 598 and 587 and many left after 538. 25:15-38 an introduction which must have come before the prophecies against the foreign nations gathered in chapters 46-51.
