Jeremiah 25

This is the message that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah. That was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

NoteThe fourth year of Jehoiakim was around 605 BC, the year Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish and became the dominant power in the region. "Nebuchadrezzar" is Jeremiah's usual spelling of the name; it is closer to the Babylonian original than the more familiar "Nebuchadnezzar," and both refer to the same king.

2Jeremiah the prophet spoke this message to all the people of Judah and to everyone living in Jerusalem. He said:

2The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

3From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day, twenty-three years, the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

NoteThe thirteenth year of Josiah was around 627 BC, when Jeremiah first began to prophesy. Where the King James has "rising early and speaking," the Hebrew is an idiom for doing something persistently and urgently, from first light onward; it does not refer to any particular time of day.

4The LORD has also sent you all his servants the prophets, sending them again and again. But you have not listened, and you have not turned your ear to hear.

4And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

5They said, "Every one of you, turn back now from your evil way and from the evil things you do. Then you can keep living in the land the LORD gave to you and to your fathers, forever and ever.

5They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

6Do not go after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. Do not make me angry with the things your own hands have made. Then I will not harm you."

6And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.

Note"The works of your hands" is a standard Hebrew expression for idols, images physically manufactured by their worshipers. It is not a general phrase for deeds or behavior.

7"But you have not listened to me, says the LORD. So you have made me angry with the things your own hands have made, and you have brought harm on yourselves."

7Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

8So this is what the LORD of Armies says: "Because you have not listened to my words,

8Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,

Note"The LORD of hosts," rendered here "the LORD of Armies," translates a title meaning the LORD who commands the armies, variously understood as Israel's armies, the heavenly bodies, or heavenly beings. It is a title of overwhelming military command.

9look, I am going to send for all the peoples of the north, says the LORD, and for my servant Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. I will bring them against this land, against the people who live in it, and against all the nations around it. I will completely destroy them. I will make them a horror, something people hiss at in scorn, and ruins that last forever.

9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Note"My servant" is a title of office, meaning an agent commissioned to carry out a task. It is startling here because it is normally used of prophets, of Moses, and of kings of Israel, and is applied to a foreign conqueror. "Something people hiss at" refers to a real gesture: passers-by would whistle or hiss through the teeth at a ruined site, a sound of shock and derision. The verb behind "completely destroy" is the term for placing something under an irrevocable ban, devoting it to destruction so that none of it may be kept.

10I will also take away 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 millstones grinding grain, and the light of the lamp.

10Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

NoteMillstones grinding grain and a lamp burning were the ordinary background sounds and sights of an inhabited house, grain was ground daily by hand, and a small oil lamp was left alight through the night. Their absence is a picture of total emptiness, not of poverty.

11This whole land will become an empty ruin, a place that horrifies people. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

NoteSeventy years is roughly the span from Babylon's rise under Nebuchadrezzar to the Persian conquest of Babylon, and it also functions as a round figure for a full lifetime, meaning that no one who saw the disaster would live to see it undone.

12When the seventy years are finished, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, says the LORD. I will make that land ruins that last forever.

12And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

NoteThe Chaldeans were a people of southern Mesopotamia whose dynasty ruled the Babylonian empire in this period; in Jeremiah "Chaldean" and "Babylonian" are used interchangeably.

13I will bring on that land everything I have said against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

13And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.

Note"This book" means a scroll, a written collection of Jeremiah's spoken oracles. Jeremiah 36 describes such a scroll being dictated and written down in this same period.

14For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them too. I will pay them back for what they have done, for the work of their own hands."

14For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

15This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my anger. Make all the nations I send you to drink from it.

15For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

NoteThe cup handed round for everyone to drink is a recurring image in the Hebrew prophets. The picture is of a host at a feast forcing a cup on his guests one after another, and of drunkenness as helplessness, staggering, vomiting, unable to stand or defend oneself.

16They will drink, and they will stagger and lose their minds, because of the sword I am sending among them."

16And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

17So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and I made all the nations drink from it, every one the LORD had sent me to.

17Then took I the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

18I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah drink, with their kings and their officials, so that they became a ruin, a horror, something people hiss at, and a name used in curses, as they are today.

18To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Note"A name used in curses" describes a real speech habit: a place so notoriously ruined that people invoke it when cursing, as in "may you end up like that place." The comment "as they are today" indicates that this section was written down, or added to, after the destruction it describes.

19I made Pharaoh king of Egypt drink, along with his servants, his officials, and all his people;

19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

20and all the people of mixed background; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, that is, Ashkelon, Azzah, Ekron, and the people left in Ashdod;

20And all the mingled people, 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 the remnant of Ashdod,

Note"People of mixed background" translates a Hebrew word for mixed foreign populations living among a people, variously understood as resident foreigners, mercenary troops, or people of mixed descent. The Philistines occupied the coastal plain southwest of Judah and had been Israel's neighbors and rivals for centuries; Ashkelon, Ekron and Ashdod were among their principal cities. "Azzah" is the King James spelling of Gaza. "The people left in Ashdod" refers to survivors of the city's earlier devastation by Egypt and Assyria.

21Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;

21Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

NoteEdom, Moab and Ammon were kingdoms immediately east and southeast of Judah, across the Jordan and the Dead Sea. They were closely related to Israel in language and origin, and were long-standing rivals.

22all the kings of Tyrus and all the kings of Zidon; and the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

22And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,

NoteTyrus and Zidon are the King James spellings of Tyre and Sidon, the two great Phoenician seaports on the coast of what is now Lebanon. "The coastlands across the sea" translates a word meaning islands or shores; it refers to the Phoenician trading colonies and coastal territories out across the Mediterranean.

23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all the people who clip the hair at the sides of their heads;

23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,

NoteDedan, Tema and Buz were oases and tribal territories in the northern Arabian desert, on the caravan routes. The King James "all that are in the utmost corners" takes the Hebrew as a geographical phrase; the words more likely describe a distinctive Arabian custom of cutting the hair short at the temples, which Israelite law forbade. Both readings are defensible and the Hebrew is genuinely uncertain.

24all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the people of mixed background who live in the desert;

24And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,

25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

25And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

NoteElam lay east of Babylon and Media northeast of it, both in what is now Iran. Zimri is otherwise unknown; some take it as a place name now lost, others as a coded spelling of another name, on the pattern of Sheshach in verse 26.

26and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.

26And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

NoteSheshach is a coded spelling of Babel, Babylon. The code, called atbash, swaps the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the last, the second for the second-to-last, and so on. Whether it was used for secrecy or as a rhetorical flourish is unknown; the effect is that the list of nations ends by naming the empire that has just been made to punish the rest.

27Then you are to say to them, "This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up again, because of the sword I am sending among you."

27Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

28And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, then say to them, "This is what the LORD of Armies says: You are certainly going to drink it.

28And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

29Look, I am starting to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name. So should you go completely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, because I am calling for a sword against everyone who lives on the earth, says the LORD of Armies."

29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

Note"The city that is called by my name" means Jerusalem, which held the temple; the phrase indicates ownership, as a name stamped on property does. The argument runs from greater to lesser: if the city with the strongest claim to protection is not spared, no other place can expect to be.

30So prophesy all these words against them. Say to them: "The LORD will roar from high above. He will raise his voice from the holy place where he lives. He will roar loudly over the place that is his own. He will shout like people stomping on grapes, and his shout is against everyone who lives on the earth.

30Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

NoteGrape-treading was done by workers stamping in a vat, who shouted rhythmically as they worked. The image joins two things at once: a loud, exultant cry, and the crushing that produces red juice.

31The noise will reach the ends of the earth, because the LORD has a case against the nations. He will bring every living person to trial, and he will hand the wicked over to the sword, says the LORD."

31A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew here uses courtroom vocabulary. The King James "hath a controversy" and "will plead" mean bringing a legal charge and conducting a case, not arguing or begging.

32This is what the LORD of Armies says: "Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation, and a great storm is rising from the far ends of the earth."

32Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

33On that day the people the LORD has killed will lie from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, gather them up, or bury them. They will lie on the ground like manure.

33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

NoteIn this culture, to be left unburied and unmourned was the ultimate degradation, worse than death itself; funeral rites and a grave were owed even to enemies. Bodies scattered like dung on a field is a stock prophetic image for a defeat so total that no one is left to bury the dead.

34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. Roll yourselves in the ashes, you leaders of the flock. The days for your slaughter and your scattering have come, and you will fall and break like a fine jar.

34Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.

Note"Shepherds" is standard ancient Near Eastern language for rulers and their officials, not for men who keep sheep; "leaders of the flock" means the same. Rolling in ashes or dust was a public mourning gesture, along with tearing one's clothes and wearing sackcloth. The "fine jar" is expensive pottery, valued and unmendable once dropped.

35The shepherds will have nowhere to run, and the leaders of the flock will have no way to escape.

35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

36Listen: the shepherds are crying out, and the leaders of the flock are wailing, because the LORD is destroying their pasture.

36A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.

37The peaceful pastures where they lived have been cut down and silenced because of the LORD's burning anger.

37And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

38He has left his den like a lion. Their land has become an empty waste because of the cruelty of the one who crushes them, and because of the LORD's fierce anger.

38He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

Note"Covert" means a lion's lair, a thicket or den it leaves when it goes out to hunt. Who the lion is here is left open: the sentence can be read as the LORD emerging to attack, or as a description of the conqueror. "The cruelty of the one who crushes them" follows one reading of the Hebrew; other manuscripts and ancient versions read "the sword of the oppressor," a difference of one very similar-looking word.