Jeremiah 25-28

GOD’S WORD Translation

Judgment on Judah and the Nations

25 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah when Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was in his fourth year as king. (This was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.) ² The prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to everyone who lived in Jerusalem. He said, ³ “For 23 years, from the time that Josiah, son of Amon, was in his thirteenth year as king of Judah until today, the Lord continued to speak his word to me. So I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

⁴ “Even though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you, you haven’t listened or paid attention to them. ⁵ The prophets said, ‘Turn from your evil ways and the evil you have done, and live in the land that the Lord permanently gave to you and your ancestors. ⁶ Don’t follow other gods to serve and worship them. Don’t make me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. Then I won’t harm you. ⁷ But you haven’t listened to me, declares the Lord. You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped and ⌞have brought⌟ harm upon yourselves.’

⁸ “This is what the Lord of Armies says: You did not listen to my words, ⁹ so I’m going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, declares the Lord. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I’m going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined. ¹⁰ I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps. ¹¹ This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

¹² “When the 70 years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes, declares the Lord. I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland. ¹³ I will bring on that land all the disasters I threatened to do to it, everything that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations, everything written in this book. ¹⁴ Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the people of Babylon, and I will pay them back for what they have done.”

¹⁵ This is what the Lord God of Israel said to me: Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my fury, and make all the nations to whom I’m sending you drink from it. ¹⁶ When they drink from it, they will stagger and go insane because of the wars that I’m going to send them.

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink from it: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah as well as its kings and officials. When they drank from it, they became wastelands and ruins, something ridiculed and cursed, until today.

¹⁹ ⌞I also made these people drink from it:⌟ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, officials, all his people, ²⁰ and all the foreign people living among them; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of Philistia, those from the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron, and the people left in Ashdod; ²¹ Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings on the seacoast; ²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who shave the hair on their foreheads; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the foreign people living 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—all the kingdoms of the earth. Last of all, the king of Sheshach will drink from the cup.

²⁷ ⌞The Lord said,⌟ “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, vomit, fall down, and don’t get up because of the wars that I’m going to send you.’ ²⁸ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: You must drink from it! ²⁹ I am going to bring disaster on the city that is named after me. Do you think you’ll go unpunished? You will not go unpunished! I’m declaring war on all those who live on earth, declares the Lord of Armies.’

³⁰ “That is why you will prophesy all these things to them and say,

³² “This is what the Lord of Armies says:

³³ On that day those killed by the Lord will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, taken away, or buried. They will become like manure on the ground.

Jeremiah Is Arrested

26 The Lord spoke his word when Judah’s King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, began to rule. He said, ² “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple, and speak to all the people who come from the cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything that I command you to tell them. Don’t leave out a single word. ³ Maybe they’ll listen, and they’ll turn from their evil ways. Then I’ll change my plan about the disaster I intend to bring on them because of the evil they have done.”

⁴ The Lord added, “Also say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: Suppose you don’t listen to me and don’t follow my teachings that I set in front of you. ⁵ Suppose you don’t listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you again and again, even though you didn’t listen. ⁶ Then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. I will turn this city into something that will be cursed by all the nations on earth.’ ”

⁷ The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these things in the Lord’s temple. ⁸ But as soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed him and said, “You must die! ⁹ Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this temple will be like Shiloh and this city will become a pile of rubble with no one living here?” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the Lord’s temple.

¹⁰ When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went from the king’s palace to the Lord’s temple. They sat at the entrance of New Gate to the Lord’s ⌞temple⌟. ¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is condemned to die because he prophesied against this city as you yourselves have heard.”

¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The Lord sent me to prophesy everything that you have heard me say against this temple and against this city. ¹³ Now, change your ways and what you are doing, and listen to the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change his plan about the disaster that he intends to bring on you.

¹⁴ “My life is in your hands. Do with me whatever you think is good and right. ¹⁵ But know for certain that if you put me to death, you, this city, and the people living in it will be guilty of killing an innocent person. The Lord has certainly sent me to speak all these things to you.”

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man should not be condemned to die. He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

¹⁷ Then some of the leaders in the land got up and said to the entire crowd, ¹⁸ “Micah from Moresheth prophesied at the time of Judah’s King Hezekiah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says:

¹⁹ Did Judah’s King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah put Micah to death? No! Hezekiah feared the Lord and sought the Lord’s favor. So the Lord changed his plan about the disaster he intended to bring on them. But we are about to bring a bigger disaster on ourselves.”

²⁰ There was another man prophesying in the name of the Lord. His name was Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. ²¹ When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said, the king wanted to put him to death. But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt. ²² King Jehoiakim sent soldiers to Egypt: Elnathan (son of Achbor) and other soldiers along with him. ²³ They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim. The king executed Uriah and threw his body into the burial ground for the common people. ²⁴ Ahikam, son of Shaphan, supported Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

The Yoke of Babylon Will Be on Judah

27 When Zedekiah, son of King Josiah of Judah, began to rule, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah.

² This is what the Lord said to me: Make ⌞leather⌟ straps and a wooden yoke,^[a] and strap the yoke on your neck. ³ Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, with messengers who have come to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁴ Give them an order for their masters: “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Say this to your masters, ⁵ ‘I used my great strength and my powerful arm to make the earth along with the people and the animals on it. I give it to anyone I please. ⁶ Now I have handed all these countries over to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made wild animals serve him. ⁷ All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until Babylon is defeated. Then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.

⁸ “ ‘Suppose nations or kingdoms won’t serve or surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will punish those nations by wars, famines, and plagues, until I have put an end to them by Nebuchadnezzar’s power, declares the Lord. ⁹ Don’t listen to prophets, mediums, interpreters of dreams, fortunetellers, or sorcerers who tell you that you’ll never serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁰ They are prophesying lies to you. They will cause you to be taken far from your lands. I’ll scatter you, and you will die. ¹¹ But suppose a nation surrenders to the king of Babylon and serves him. I will let it stay in its own land. People will farm the land and live on it,’ ” declares the Lord.

¹² I spoke the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah, “Surrender to the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and you will stay alive. ¹³ Why should you and your people die in wars, famines, and plagues? The Lord has threatened the nations that don’t serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁴ Don’t listen to the prophets who tell you that you’ll never serve the king of Babylon. They are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁵ I didn’t send them, declares the Lord. They prophesy lies in my name. So I will scatter you, and you and the prophets will die.”

¹⁶ I also spoke this message to the priests and all the people. “This is what the Lord said to me: Don’t listen to the prophets who tell you that the utensils of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon soon. They are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁷ Don’t listen to them. Instead, serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be turned into rubble? ¹⁸ If they are prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, they should beg the Lord of Armies not to allow the utensils that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem to be taken away to Babylon.

^19-20 “Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiakin,^[b] son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. But he didn’t take the pillars, the bronze pool, the stands, and the rest of the utensils that are left in this city. ²¹ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about the utensils that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²² They will be taken to Babylon and stay there until I come for them, declares the Lord. I will take them from there and bring them back to this place.”

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

28 In that same year, early in the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of his fourth year as king, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the Lord’s temple. He said to me in front of the priests and all the people, ² “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will break the yoke ^[c] of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two years I will bring back all the utensils of the Lord’s temple that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from this place and carried off to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord. So I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people standing in the Lord’s temple. ⁶ He said, “Amen! May the Lord do this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true and bring back the utensils of the Lord’s temple and all the captives from Babylon to this place. ⁷ But now listen to this message that I am speaking to you and to all the people: ⁸ Long ago, the prophets who preceded you and me prophesied wars, disasters, and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹ But the prophet who prophesied peace was recognized as a prophet that the Lord sent only if the message of the prophet came true.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it. ¹¹ Hananiah said in front of all the people, “This is what the Lord says: In the same way, I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.” Then the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.

¹² After the prophet Hananiah broke the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³ “Tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken the wooden yoke, but I ^[d] will replace it with an iron yoke. ¹⁴ This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations so that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him! I will even make wild animals serve him.’ ”

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Now listen, Hananiah, the Lord hasn’t sent you. You have made these people believe a lie. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord says: I’m going to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have encouraged rebellion against the Lord.”

¹⁷ So the prophet Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year.