Jeremiah 25 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(A)in the fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: ^{3 (C)}“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, ^(D)but you have not listened. ⁴ And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, ^(E)rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ⁵ They said, ^(F)‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’ ⁷ Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might ^(G)provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

⁸ “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, ⁹ behold, I will send and take ^(H)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^(I)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and ^(J)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰ Moreover I will ^[a]take from them the ^(K)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^(L)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ^(M)years.

¹² ‘Then it will come to pass, ^(N)when ^[b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ^(O)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. ¹³ So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. ^{14 (P)}(For many nations ^(Q)and great kings shall ^(R)be served by them also; ^(S)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Judgment on the Nations

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this ^(T)wine cup of ^[c]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. ¹⁶ And ^(U)they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them ^(V)a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and ^(W)a curse, as it is this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; ²⁰ all the mixed multitude, all the kings of ^(X)the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(Y)Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and ^(Z)the remnant of Ashdod); ^{21 (AA)}Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; ²² all the kings of ^(AB)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the ^(AC)sea; ^{23 (AD)}Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the ^(AE)mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(AF)Elam, and all the kings of the ^(AG)Medes; ^{26 (AH)}all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of ^[d]Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AI)“Drink, ^(AJ)be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ ²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! ²⁹ For behold, ^(AK)I begin to bring calamity on the city ^(AL)which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for ^(AM)I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

³⁰ “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

‘The Lord will ^(AN)roar from on high,
And utter His voice from ^(AO)His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against ^(AP)His fold.
He will give ^(AQ)a shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
³¹ A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the Lord has ^(AR)a controversy with the nations;
^(AS)He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the Lord.”

³² Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And ^(AT)a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.

^{33 (AU)}And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be ^(AV)lamented, ^(AW)or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

³⁴ “Wail,^(AX) shepherds, and cry!
Roll about in the ashes,
You leaders of the flock!
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;
You shall fall like a precious vessel.
³⁵ And the shepherds will have no ^[e]way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
³⁶ A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the Lord has plundered their pasture,
³⁷ And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
³⁸ He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land is desolate
Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
And because of His fierce anger.”

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 25:10 Lit. cause to perish from them
2. Jeremiah 25:12 Beginning circa 605 b.c. (2 Kin. 24:1) and ending circa 536 b.c. (Ezra 1:1)
3. Jeremiah 25:15 wrath
4. Jeremiah 25:26 A code word for Babylon, Jer. 51:41
5. Jeremiah 25:35 Or refuge

Cross references

1. Jeremiah 25:1 : Jer. 36:1
2. Jeremiah 25:1 : 2 Kin. 24:1, 2; 2 Chr. 36:4–6; Dan. 1:1, 2
3. Jeremiah 25:3 : Jer. 1:2
4. Jeremiah 25:3 : Jer. 7:13; 11:7, 8, 10
5. Jeremiah 25:4 : Jer. 7:13, 25
6. Jeremiah 25:5 : 2 Kin. 17:13; [Is. 55:6, 7]; Jer. 18:11; Ezek. 18:30; [Jon. 3:8–10]
7. Jeremiah 25:7 : Deut. 32:21; Jer. 7:19; 32:30
8. Jeremiah 25:9 : Jer. 1:15
9. Jeremiah 25:9 : Is. 45:1; Jer. 27:6
10. Jeremiah 25:9 : Jer. 18:16
11. Jeremiah 25:10 : Is. 24:7–11; Jer. 7:34; 16:9; Ezek. 26:13; Hos. 2:11; Rev. 18:23
12. Jeremiah 25:10 : Eccl. 12:4; Is. 47:2
13. Jeremiah 25:11 : 2 Chr. 36:21; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2; Zech. 7:5
14. Jeremiah 25:12 : 2 Chr. 36:21, 22; Ezra 1:1; Jer. 29:10; Dan. 9:2
15. Jeremiah 25:12 : Is. 13:20; Jer. 50:3
16. Jeremiah 25:14 : Jer. 50:9; 51:27, 28
17. Jeremiah 25:14 : Jer. 51:27
18. Jeremiah 25:14 : Jer. 27:7
19. Jeremiah 25:14 : Jer. 50:29; 51:6, 24
20. Jeremiah 25:15 : Job 21:20; Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17; Rev. 14:10
21. Jeremiah 25:16 : Jer. 51:7; Ezek. 23:34; Nah. 3:11
22. Jeremiah 25:18 : Jer. 25:9, 11
23. Jeremiah 25:18 : Jer. 24:9
24. Jeremiah 25:20 : Job 1:1; Lam. 4:21
25. Jeremiah 25:20 : Jer. 47:1–7; Ezek. 25:16, 17
26. Jeremiah 25:20 : Is. 20:1
27. Jeremiah 25:21 : Jer. 49:7
28. Jeremiah 25:22 : Jer. 47:4; Zech. 9:2–4
29. Jeremiah 25:22 : Jer. 49:23
30. Jeremiah 25:23 : Is. 21:13; Jer. 49:7, 8
31. Jeremiah 25:24 : Jer. 25:20; 50:37; Ezek. 30:5
32. Jeremiah 25:25 : Gen. 10:22; Is. 11:11; Jer. 49:34
33. Jeremiah 25:25 : Is. 13:17; Jer. 51:11, 28
34. Jeremiah 25:26 : Jer. 50:9
35. Jeremiah 25:27 : Jer. 25:16; Hab. 2:16
36. Jeremiah 25:27 : Is. 63:6
37. Jeremiah 25:29 : [Prov. 11:31]; Is. 10:12; Jer. 13:13; Ezek. 9:6; [Luke 23:31; 1 Pet. 4:17]
38. Jeremiah 25:29 : Dan. 9:18
39. Jeremiah 25:29 : Ezek. 38:21
40. Jeremiah 25:30 : Is. 42:13; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2
41. Jeremiah 25:30 : Ps. 11:4
42. Jeremiah 25:30 : 1 Kin. 9:3; Ps. 132:14
43. Jeremiah 25:30 : Is. 16:9; Jer. 48:33
44. Jeremiah 25:31 : Hos. 4:1; Mic. 6:2
45. Jeremiah 25:31 : Is. 66:16; Joel 3:2
46. Jeremiah 25:32 : Jer. 23:19; 30:23
47. Jeremiah 25:33 : Is. 34:2, 3; 66:16
48. Jeremiah 25:33 : Jer. 16:4, 6; Ezek. 39:4, 17
49. Jeremiah 25:33 : Ps. 79:3; Jer. 8:2; Rev. 11:9
50. Jeremiah 25:34 : Jer. 4:8; 6:26; Ezek. 27:30