1At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2This is what the LORD said to me: "Make yourself straps and yokes, and put them on your neck."
3"Then send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the Ammonites, to the king of Tyrus and to the king of Zidon. Send it by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah."
4"Command them to say to their masters, 'This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says. You are to tell your masters:"
5"'I have made the earth, and the people and the animals that are on the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whoever seems right to me."
6"'Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have given him the wild animals as well, to serve him."
7"'All nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time for his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them."
8"'If any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the 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, says the LORD, until I have destroyed them by his hand."
9"'So do not listen to your prophets, or your fortune-tellers, or your dreamers, or your enchanters, or your sorcerers, who tell you that you shall not serve the king of Babylon."
10"'They prophesy a lie to you, which will take you far away from your land. I will drive you out, and you will die."
11"'But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave still in their own land, says the LORD. They shall work it and live in it.'"
12I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way. I said, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people, and live."
13"Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine and by plague, as the LORD has said about the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?"
14"So do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you that you shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you."
15"I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name. So I will drive you out, and you will die, you and the prophets who prophesy to you."
16I also spoke to the priests and to all this people. I said, "This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you and say, 'Look, the vessels of the LORD's house will very soon be brought back from Babylon.' They prophesy a lie to you."
17"Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste?"
18"But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them plead with the LORD of hosts that the vessels left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon."
19"For this is what the LORD of hosts says about the pillars, and about the sea, and about the bases, and about the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,"
20"which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem."
21"Yes, this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says about the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:"
22"They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall stay until the day I visit them, says the LORD. Then I will bring them up and put them back in this place."