Seventy Years of Captivity

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, 2which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all those dwelling in Jerusalem, saying:

3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day—this is the third and twentieth year—the word of YHWH came to me, and I have spoken to you⁺, rising early and speaking, and you⁺ have not listened. 4And YHWH has sent to you⁺ all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, and you⁺ have not listened and you⁺ have not inclined your⁺ ear to hear—

5saying, ‘Repent now, each man from his evil way, and from the evil of his deeds, and dwell in the land that YHWH has given to you⁺ and to your⁺ fathers, from forever and even to forever. 6And do not go after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your⁺ hands; and I will not bring evil to you⁺.’

7‘And you⁺ have not listened to Me,’ a declaration of YHWH, ‘So you have provoked Me to anger by the works of your⁺ hands, to bring evil to yourselves.

8Therefore, thus says YHWH of Hosts: ‘Because that you have not heard My words, 9behold, I am sending forth and I have taken all the families of the north, a declaration of YHWH, and unto Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And will bring them against this land and against its dwellers and against all these surrounding nations, and I will devote them to destruction,† and I will give them for a horror and for a hissing and for desolations forever!

10And I will make perish from them 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. 11And all this land will become as a desolation, as a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12And it will come to pass, at the completing of seventy years, that I will visit punishment upon the king of Babylon, upon that nation, a declaration of YHWH, for their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans;† and I will make it as a desolation forever.

13And I will bring upon that land all My words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied concerning all the nations. 14For shall be served by them—even them—even many nations and great kings; and I will repay to them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.’”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

15For thus said YHWH God of Israel to me: “Take the wine of the cup of this fury from My hand, and cause all the nations to drink it, to whom I am sending you. 16And they will drink it and stagger about and go raving from the face of the sword that I am sending among them.

17And I took the cup from the hand of YHWH and made all the nations drink from it to whom YHWH had sent me: 18Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, a horror, a hissing, and a curse—as at this day; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20and all the mixed multitude, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines—and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod— 21Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, 22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands that are across the sea, 23and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all in the cut off corners, 24and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed multitude dwelling 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, those near and those far, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the face of the earth, and the king of Sheshach† shall drink after them.

27And you shall say to them, “Thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and you⁺ shall stand no more before the face of the sword that I am sending among you⁺.’

28And it will come to pass, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, that you shall say to them, thus says YHWH of Hosts: ‘You shall surely drink! 29For behold, upon the city that is called by My name, I am beginning to bring evil, and you⁺, will you⁺ at all be cleared? You⁺ will not be cleared of guilt. For I am calling for a sword upon all those dwelling in the earth! A declaration of YHWH of Hosts.’

30And you must prophesy against them all these words, and you are to say to them:

‘YHWH will roar from on high,

and from His holy habitation He will give forth His voice;

He will roar loudly

against His habitation,

a shout as of treaders He will give forth

unto all those dwelling in the earth.

31An uproar will come as far as the ends of the earth;

for unto YHWH is a dispute with the nations,

He executes judgment for all flesh,

and He will give the wicked to the sword!’”

A declaration of YHWH.

32Thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“Behold, disaster goes forth

from nation to nation,

and a great tempest is raised up

from the sides of the earth.

33And those slain by YHWH shall be on that day from one end of the earth and to the other end of the earth; They will not be mourned, and not gathered, and not buried—they will be like dung upon the face of the ground!

The Cry of the Shepherds

34Wail, O shepherds, and cry out;

and roll, O leaders of the flock!

For the days of your slaughter are fulfilled—

and of your⁺ dispersions—and you⁺ will fall like a precious vessel.†

35And the place of refuge will perish from the shepherds,

and of escape from the leaders of the flock—

36A voice of the cry of the shepherds,

and the wailing of the leaders of the flock!

For YHWH has spoiled their pasture.

37And the peaceable habitations are silenced

before the face of the burning nose of YHWH.

38He leaves His lair like the lion,

for their land has become as a desolation

before the face of the fierceness† of the Oppressor,

and from the face of the fierceness anger.

Footnotes:

9 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
12 That is, the Babylonians
26 Sheshach is a code name for Babylon.
34 Hebrew; LXX and you will fall like the choice rams
38 Some Hebrew manuscripts and LXX (see also Jeremiah 46:16 and Jeremiah 50:16); most Hebrew manuscripts anger