1The word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah. That was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
2Jeremiah the prophet spoke this word to all the people of Judah, and to all who lived in Jerusalem. He said:
3"From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day - that is twenty-three years - the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you again and again, rising early to speak; but you have not listened."
4"And the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened, and you have not turned your ear to hear."
5"They said, 'Turn back now, each one of you, from your evil way and from your evil deeds, and live in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers for ever and ever."
6"'Do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them. Do not make me angry with the things your hands have made, and I will do you no harm.'"
7"Yet you have not listened to me, says the LORD. So you have made me angry with the things your hands have made, to your own harm."
8"Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: 'Because you have not heard my words,"
9"'look, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I will bring them against this land, and against those who live in it, and against all these nations round about. I will completely destroy them, and make them a horror, and a thing to hiss at, and ruins for ever."
10"'More than that, I will take from them the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp."
11"'This whole land shall be a waste and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."
12"'And when the seventy years are finished, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their sin, and I will punish the land of the Chaldeans, and make it ruins for ever."
13"'I will bring upon that land all my words which I have spoken against it, even everything written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations."
14"'For many nations and great kings shall make servants of them too. I will pay them back for what they have done, and for the works of their own hands.'"
15"For this is what the LORD God of Israel said to me: 'Take the wine cup of this fury from my hand, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it."
16"'They shall 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, the nations to whom the LORD had sent me:"
18"that is, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a thing to hiss at, and a curse, as it is this day;"
20"and all the mixed peoples, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and what is left of Ashdod;"
22"and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the islands beyond the sea;"
23"Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;"
24"and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who live in the desert;"
25"and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;"
26"and all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them."
27"So you shall say to them, 'This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, and be drunk, and be sick, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.'"
28"And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'This is what the LORD of hosts says: You shall certainly drink."
29"'For look, I am beginning to bring trouble on the city that is called by my name. And should you go completely unpunished? You shall not go unpunished. For I will call for a sword against all who live on the earth, says the LORD of hosts.'"
30"So prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: 'The LORD will roar from on high, and send out his voice from his holy home. He will roar mightily over his own dwelling. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, against all who live on the earth."
31"'The noise will reach to the ends of the earth. For the LORD has a case against the nations; he will bring all flesh to judgment. He will give the wicked to the sword, says the LORD.'"
32"This is what the LORD of hosts says: 'Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind is stirred up from the far parts of the earth."
33"'On that day those killed by the LORD shall lie from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. No one will weep for them, or gather them, or bury them. They shall be dung on the ground."
34"'Howl, you shepherds, and cry out; roll yourselves in the ashes, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and your scattering are complete, and you shall fall like a fine vessel."
35"'The shepherds shall have no way to run, and the leaders of the flock no way to escape."
36"'The sound of the shepherds crying out, and the howling of the leaders of the flock, shall be heard. For the LORD has destroyed their pasture."
37"'The peaceful pastures are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD."
38"'He has left his den like a lion. Their land is a waste because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.'"