⁶ So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting^(A) and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated.^(B) Read them to all the people of Judah^(C) who come in from their towns.

²³ Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll,^(A) the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.^(B)

²⁸ “Take another scroll^(A) and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.

⁹ Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched^(A) my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.^(B)

¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations^(A) and kingdoms to uproot^(B) and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”^(C)

³ For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah^(A) son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again,^(B) but you have not listened.^(C)

⁹ I will summon^(A) all the peoples of the north^(B) and my servant^(C) Nebuchadnezzar^(D) king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy^[a](E) them and make them an object of horror and scorn,^(F) and an everlasting ruin.^{(G) 10} I will banish from them the sounds^(H) of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom,^(I) the sound of millstones^(J) and the light of the lamp.^{(K) 11} This whole country will become a desolate wasteland,^(L) and these nations will serve^(M) the king of Babylon seventy years.^(N)

¹² “But when the seventy years^(O) are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon^(P) and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,^[b] for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate^(Q) forever. ¹³ I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written^(R) in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. ¹⁴ They themselves will be enslaved^(S) by many nations^(T) and great kings; I will repay^(U) them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

¹⁵ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup^(V) filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send^(W) you drink it. ¹⁶ When they drink^(X) it, they will stagger^(Y) and go mad^(Z) because of the sword^(AA) I will send among them.”

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent^(AB) me drink it: ¹⁸ Jerusalem^(AC) and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin^(AD) and an object of horror and scorn,^(AE) a curse^[c](AF)—as they are today;^{(AG) 19} Pharaoh king^(AH) of Egypt,^(AI) his attendants, his officials and all his people, ²⁰ and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz;^(AJ) all the kings of the Philistines^(AK) (those of Ashkelon,^(AL) Gaza,^(AM) Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); ²¹ Edom,^(AN) Moab^(AO) and Ammon;^{(AP) 22} all the kings of Tyre^(AQ) and Sidon;^(AR) the kings of the coastlands^(AS) across the sea; ²³ Dedan,^(AT) Tema,^(AU) Buz^(AV) and all who are in distant places^[d];^{(AW) 24} all the kings of Arabia^(AX) and all the kings of the foreign people^(AY) who live in the wilderness; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri,^(AZ) Elam^(BA) and Media;^{(BB) 26} and all the kings of the north,^(BC) near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms^(BD) on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak^[e](BE) will drink it too.

²⁷ “Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk^(BF) and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword^(BG) I will send among you.’ ²⁸ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink^(BH), tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! ²⁹ See, I am beginning to bring disaster^(BI) on the city that bears my Name,^(BJ) and will you indeed go unpunished?^(BK) You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword^(BL) on all^(BM) who live on the earth,^(BN) declares the Lord Almighty.’

The Flying Scroll

5 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.^(A)