Jeremiah 25:1-14

This is the message that came to Jeremiah about the people of Judah. He received this prophecy in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign in Babylon. Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, saying: “For the last twenty-three years, ever since the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king, I have been warning you and continually prophesying to you the words of YAHWEH, but you have not listened. Additionally, YAHWEH has sent all his servants the prophets to you over and over again, but still you have neither listened nor humbled your hearts to pay attention to them. They told you, ‘If you turn, each person, from your evil ways and from your evil doings, YAHWEH will let you remain in the land that he gave you and your ancestors for all time. Do not run after other gods to serve and worship them.’ “ ‘Do not provoke me to anger by worshiping idols your own hands have made, and I will do you no harm,’ declares YAHWEH. ‘But you have not listened to me and have provoked my anger by worshiping idols your own hands have made, to your own harm.’ ” “Therefore, because you have not listened to my words, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says: ‘Behold, I will summon my servant Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, along with all the northern armies, and bring them to fight against this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a desolation. I will turn them into ruins forever. Everyone will be utterly astonished by the sight of what I have done to them. Moreover, I will banish the voices of celebration and laughter from them and the sweet voices of the groom and his bride. I will silence the noise of grinding grain in the morning, and in the evening, lamps will no longer burn in their homes. The entire region will become a ruin, empty as a desert, and these nations will be carried off to Babylon to serve her king for seventy years. “ ‘Then, after seventy years, I will punish the king of Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans for their sin,’ declares YAHWEH. ‘I will make their land desolate forever. I will bring against that land all my words of warning that I have spoken against it, everything written in this scroll, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. Indeed, I will pay back the Babylonians for every wrong they have done. Great kings from many other nations will conquer the mighty Babylonians and will even make slaves of them.’ ”