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The Babylonian Captivity Foretold

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon), ²which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ³For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the L ord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. ⁴And though the L ord persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear ⁵when they said, “Turn now, every one of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain upon the land that the L ord has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever; ⁶do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.” ⁷Yet you did not listen to me, says the L ord, and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸ Therefore thus says the L ord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the L ord, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. ¹⁰And I will banish from them the sound of mirth 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. ¹¹This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the L ord, making the land an everlasting waste. ¹³I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

The Cup of God’s Wrath

¹⁵ For thus the L ord, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. ¹⁶They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the L ord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the L ord sent me drink it: ¹⁸Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as they are today; ¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people; ²⁰all the mixed people; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; ²¹Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; ²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; ²³Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples; ²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that live in the desert; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; ²⁶all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach shall drink.

²⁷ Then you shall say to them, Thus says the L ord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.

²⁸ And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: Thus says the L ord of hosts: You must drink! ²⁹See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and how can you possibly avoid punishment? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the L ord of hosts.

³⁰ You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

The L ord will roar from on high,

and from his holy habitation utter his voice;

he will roar mightily against his fold,

and shout, like those who tread grapes,

against all the inhabitants of the earth.

The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,

for the L ord has an indictment against the nations;

he is entering into judgment with all flesh,

and the guilty he will put to the sword,

says the L ord.

Thus says the L ord of hosts:

See, disaster is spreading

from nation to nation,

and a great tempest is stirring

from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³ Those slain by the L ord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become dung on the surface of the ground.

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;

roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,

for the days of your slaughter have come—and your dispersions,

and you shall fall like a choice vessel.

Flight shall fail the shepherds,

and there shall be no escape for the lords of the flock.

Hark! the cry of the shepherds,

and the wail of the lords of the flock!

For the L ord is despoiling their pasture,

and the peaceful folds are devastated,

because of the fierce anger of the L ord.

Like a lion he has left his covert;

for their land has become a waste

because of the cruel sword,

and because of his fierce anger.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

He goes on with the same subject, that the tents, previously tranquil, would perish or be destroyed. And he designedly calls their dwellings peaceable; for the Jews, having found that their enemies had not before disturbed them, still promised to themselves the same good fortune in future.

And the faithful indeed do act thus rightly, and justly conclude from God’s previous benefits that he will be kind to them as he had ever been so; but hypocrites, though they repent not, yet absurdly think that God is bound to them; and though they daily provoke his wrath, they yet securely continue in their confidence of having peace. Since God then had until that time deferred the grievousness of his wrath, the Prophet says, that though their tents had been peaceable, ¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁵ The word rendered “tents” means sometimes dwellings, or habitations, and sometimes pastures; and it is thus variously translated in our version, according to what the context requires. As “pastures” are mentioned in the previous verse, tents, or habitations, would be the best word here, and more suitable to the verb that is used, which means to reduce to silence, or to level, that is, with the ground, and hence to demolish. The rendering of the Vulg. is “fields — arva,” but of the Syr. and Targ. “habitations.” Venema and Blayney have “folds,” which are probably the habitations intended. — Ed. yet they could not be exempted from destruction as soon as the indignation of God’s wrath went forth. It might have been enough to make use of one of these words, either of חרון, cherun, or of אף, aph; but the Prophet used the two, indignation and wrath, ¹⁵⁶¹⁵⁶ Literally it is, “through the burning of the wrath of Jehovah.” The word “fury,” by which it is often rendered, is by no means suitable. The Versions vary: “the wrath of indignation” is the Sept.; “the wrath of fury” the Vulg., “boiling wrath” the Sept.; and “the fury of wrath” the Targ. The same words occur at the end of the next verse. — Ed. in order that he might fill the wicked with more terror; for as they were obstinate in their wickedness, so they were not moved except God doubled his strokes and set forth the extremity of his wrath. It follows, —

¹⁵⁵ The word rendered “tents” means sometimes dwellings, or habitations, and sometimes pastures; and it is thus variously translated in our version, according to what the context requires. As “pastures” are mentioned in the previous verse, tents, or habitations, would be the best word here, and more suitable to the verb that is used, which means to reduce to silence, or to level, that is, with the ground, and hence to demolish. The rendering of the Vulg. is “fields — arva,” but of the Syr. and Targ. “habitations.” Venema and Blayney have “folds,” which are probably the habitations intended. — Ed.

¹⁵⁶ Literally it is, “through the burning of the wrath of Jehovah.” The word “fury,” by which it is often rendered, is by no means suitable. The Versions vary: “the wrath of indignation” is the Sept.; “the wrath of fury” the Vulg., “boiling wrath” the Sept.; and “the fury of wrath” the Targ. The same words occur at the end of the next verse. — Ed.