Seventy Years of Captivity
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet had spoken to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3 From the 30th year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this very day, 23 years, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 The Lord has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.
5 The prophets said, ‘Turn now, everyone, from his evil ways and from your evil deeds and continue dwelling in the land that the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and forevermore. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve them or worship them and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’
7 ‘Yet to your own harm, you have not listened to me,’ says the Lord, ‘that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands.’
8 Therefore the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will send for all the families of the north, says the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around. I will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment, for ridicule, and unending desolation.
10 Moreover I will take from them, the sound of laughter and the sound of gladness, the sound of bridegrooms and the sound of brides, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land will be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
12 It will happen, when 70 years have passed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.
13 I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced 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, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’ ”
The Cup of Wrath
15 For the Lord, the God of Israel, said 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. 16 They will drink, and reel back and forth, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then I took the cup from the hand of the Lord and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: 18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its officials, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a ridicule and a curse, as it is today, 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his officials, and all his people, 20 and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off; 24 and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
27 “Then you shall tell them that this is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘Drink and be drunk. Vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.’
28 It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them that this is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘You shall surely drink. 29 For I have begun to bring disaster at the city which is called by my name, so how could you possibly not be punished? You will not go unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of Hosts.’
30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them:
“The Lord will roar from on high,
and utter his voice from his holy habitation.
He will mightily roar against his fold.
He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come, to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord has a contention with the nations.
He will enter into judgment with all mankind.
As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,” says the Lord.
32 The Lord of Hosts says:
“Disaster will go out from nation to nation,
and a great storm will be raised up
from the uttermost parts of the earth.”
33 The slain of the Lord will be, on that day, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented. They will not be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground.
The Cry of the Shepherds
34 Wail, you shepherds and cry out.
Wallow in dust, you leaders of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter
and of your dispersion has fully come,
and you will fall like fine pottery.
35 The shepherds will have no way to flee.
The leaders of the flock will have no escape.
36 Hear the sound of the shepherds’ cry,
and the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
for the Lord is destroying their pasture.
37 The peaceful folds are brought to silence
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
38 He has left his covert, as the lion,
for their land has become an astonishment
because of the fierce oppression,
and because of his fierce anger.