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¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²the word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

⁴And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

⁵saying, ‘Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

⁶and do not follow other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.’

⁷Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins.

¹⁰Moreover, I will eliminate from them the voice of jubilation and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

¹³I will bring upon 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, even them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’ ”

¹⁵For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it.

¹⁶Then they will drink and loudly vomit and act insanely because of the sword that I am going to send among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and gave it to all the nations to whom the LORD sent me, to drink from it:

¹⁸To Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them places of ruins, objects of horror, hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹To Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;

²⁰and to all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹To Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon;

²²and to all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

²³and to Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who trim the corners of their hair;

²⁴and to all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert;

²⁵and to all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

²⁶and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; and the king of Sheshach shall drink it after them.

²⁷“And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the sword which I am sending among you.” ’

²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: “You shall certainly drink!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to inflict disaster on this city which is called by My name, so should you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the LORD of armies.’

³⁰“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The LORD will roar from on high And raise His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar forcefully against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with humanity; As for the wicked, He has turned them over to the sword,’ declares the LORD.”

³²This is what the LORD of armies says: “Behold, evil is going out From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth.

³³“Those put to death by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; Wallow in the dust, you masters of the flock; For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a precious vessel.

³⁵There will be no sanctuary for the shepherds, Nor escape for the masters of the flock.

³⁶Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

³⁷And the peaceful grazing places are devastated Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His fierce anger.”

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the LORD’S house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

³Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster which I am planning to inflict on them because of the evil of their deeds.’

⁴And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “If you do not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened;

⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

⁷The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

⁸Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!

⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be in ruins, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered to Jeremiah at the house of the LORD.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’S house.

¹¹Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³Now then, reform your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent of the disaster which He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.

¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words so that you hear them.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”

¹⁷Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸“Micah of Moresheth used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies has said: “Zion will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.” ’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and plead for the favor of the LORD, and the LORD relented of the disaster which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against our own lives!”

²⁰Indeed, there was also a man who used to prophesy in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

²¹When King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death; but Uriah heard about it, and he was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him, to Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword and threw his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to the people to put him to death.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying—

²this is what the LORD has said to me: “Make for yourself restraints and yokes and put them on your neck,

³and send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

⁴Order them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “This is what you shall say to your masters:

⁵‘I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight.

⁶And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.

⁷All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.

⁸‘And it will be that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with plague,’ declares the LORD, ‘until I have eliminated it by his hand.

⁹And as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who talk to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.”

¹⁰For they are prophesying a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you away and you will perish.

¹¹But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and they will cultivate it and live in it.’ ” ’ ”

¹²I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

¹³Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴So do not listen to the words of the prophets who talk to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you;

¹⁵for I have not sent them,” declares the LORD, “but they are prophesying falsely in My name, so that I will drive you away and that you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁷Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a place of ruins?

¹⁸But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, have them now plead with the LORD of armies that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem do not go to Babylon.

¹⁹For this is what the LORD of armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the kettle stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he led into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—

²¹Yes, this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem:

²²“They will be brought to Babylon and will be there until the day I visit them,” declares the LORD. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” ’ ”