Jeremiah - The Old Testament

¹ The word that was addressed to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (that is to say the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).

² The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed it before all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:

³ 'For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until today, the word of Yahweh has been addressed to me and I have never tired of speaking to you (but you have not listened.

⁴ Furthermore, Yahweh has untiringly sent you all his servants the prophets, but you have not listened or paid attention).

⁵ The message was this, "Turn back, each one of you, from your evil behaviour and your evil actions, and you will go on living on the soil Yahweh long ago gave to you and your ancestors for ever.

⁶ (And do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, do not provoke me with things you yourselves have made, and then I shall not harm you.)

⁷ But you have not listened to me (Yahweh declares, so that you have now provoked me with things you yourselves have made, and thus harmed yourselves)."

⁸ 'So-this is what Yahweh Sabaoth says, "Since you have not listened to my words,

⁹ I shall now send for all the families of the north (Yahweh declares, that is, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant) and bring them down on this country and its inhabitants (and on all these surrounding nations); I shall curse them with utter destruction and make them an object of horror, of scorn, and ruin them for ever.

¹⁰ From them I shall banish the shouts of rejoicing and mirth, the voices of bridegroom and bride, the sound of the handmill and the light of the lamp;

¹¹ and this whole country will be reduced to ruin and desolation, and these nations will be enslaved to the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹² (But when the seventy years are over, I shall punish the king of Babylon and that nation, Yahweh declares, for the wrong they have done, that is, the country of the Chaldaeans, and make it desolate for ever),

¹³ and against that country I shall perform all the words with which I have threatened it, that is, everything written in this book." '

¹⁴ What Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ('For these in their turn are to be enslaved to powerful nations and great kings, and I shall pay them back as their deeds and handiwork deserve.')

¹⁵ For Yahweh, the God of Israel, said this to me, 'Take this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it;

¹⁶ they will drink and reel and lose their wits, because of the sword I am sending among them.'

¹⁷ I took the cup from Yahweh's hand and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it

¹⁸ (Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and its chief men, to make them a ruin, an object of horror and derision and a curse, as is the case today):

¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his chief men and all his people,

²⁰ with the whole conglomeration of peoples there (all the kings of the country of Uz); all the kings of the country of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and what is still left of Ashdod;

²¹ Edom, Moab and the Ammonites;

²² (all) the kings of Tyre, (all) the kings of Sidon, the kings of the island across the sea;

²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the people with shaven temples;

²⁴ all the kings of Arabia (and all the kings of the conglomeration of peoples) who live in the desert

²⁵ (all the kings of Zimri), all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

²⁶ all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another: in short, all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. (As for the king of Sheshak, he will drink last of all.)

²⁷ 'You will say to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, says this: Drink! Get drunk! Vomit! Fall, never to rise again, before the sword that I am sending among you!"

²⁸ If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, you will say to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: You must drink!

²⁹ Look, for a start, I am bringing disaster on the city that bears my name, so are you likely to go unpunished? You certainly will not go unpunished, for next I shall summon a sword against all the inhabitants of the land, Yahweh declares."

³⁰ 'For your part, you are to prophesy all these words to them. Say to them: "Yahweh roars from on high, he thunders from his holy dwelling-place, loudly he roars at his own fold, shouts aloud like those who tread the grape at all the inhabitants of the land.

³¹ The noise resounds to the remotest parts of the earth. For Yahweh is indicting the nations, arraigning all humanity for judgement; the wicked he assigns to the sword, Yahweh declares.

³² Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Look, disaster is spreading from nation to nation, a mighty tempest is rising from the far ends of the earth.

³³ "Those slaughtered by Yahweh that day will be scattered across the world from end to end. No dirge will be raised for them; no one will gather them or bury them; they will stay lying on the surface like dung.

³⁴ "Howl, shepherds, shriek, roll on the ground, you lords of the flock, for your days have come to be slaughtered and to be scattered, and like a choice vase you will fall.

³⁵ No refuge then for the shepherds, no escape for the lords of the flock!

³⁶ Listen! A shriek from the shepherds, a howl from the lords of the flock! For Yahweh has laid their pasture waste,

³⁷ the peaceful sheepfolds are reduced to silence owing to Yahweh's furious anger.

³⁸ The lion has left his lair and their country is a wasteland now, owing to the devastating fury, owing to his furious anger." '