1   This came to Jeremiah as the word concerning all the people of

Two visions Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (that is the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon). 2   This is what the prophet Jeremiah said to all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: For twenty-three years, 3   from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, to the present day, I have been receiving the words of the Lord and taking pains to speak to you, but you have not listened. 4   The Lord has taken pains to send you his servants the prophets, but you have not listened or shown any inclination to listen. 5   If each of you will turn from his wicked ways and evil courses, he has said, then you shall for ever live on the soil which the Lord gave to you and to your forefathers. 6   You must not follow other gods, serving and worshipping them, nor must you provoke me to anger with the idols your hands have made; then I will not do you harm. 7   But you did not listen to me, says the Lord; you provoked me to anger with the idols your hands had made and so brought harm upon yourselves.

8   Therefore these are the words of the Lord of Hosts: Because you have not listened to my words, 9   I will summon all the tribes of the north, says the Lord: I will send for my servant Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and all its inhabitants and all these nations round it; I will exterminate them and make them a thing of horror and derision, a scandal for ever. 10   I will silence all sounds of joy and gladness among them, the voices of bridegroom and bride, and the sound of the handmill; I will quench the light of every lamp. 11   For seventy years this whole country shall be a scandal and a horror; these nations shall be in subjection to the king of Babylon. 12   When those seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people, says the Lord, for all their misdeeds and make the land of the Chaldaeans a waste for ever. 13   I will bring upon that country all I have said, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremiah has prophesied against these peoples. 14   They will be the victims ^note of mighty nations and great kings, and thus I will repay them for their actions and their deeds.

15   These were the words of the Lord the God of Israel to me: Take from my hand this cup of fiery wine and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16   When they have drunk it they will vomit and go mad; such is the sword which I am sending among them. 17   Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom he sent me and made them drink it: 18   to Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and officers, making them a scandal, a thing of horror and derision and an object of ridicule, as they still are: 19   to Pharaoh king of Egypt, his courtiers, 20   his officers, all his people, and all his rabble of followers, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines: to Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod: 21   also to Edom, Moab, and

Two visions the Ammonites, 22   all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coasts and islands: 23   to Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who roam the fringes of the desert, ^note 24   all the kings of Arabia ^note living in the wilderness, all the kings of Zamri, 25   all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26   all the kings of the north, neighbours or far apart, and all the kingdoms ^note on the face of the earth. Last of all the king of Sheshak ^note shall drink. 27   You shall say to them, These are the words of the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel: Drink this, get drunk and be sick; fall, to rise no more, before the sword which I am sending among you. 28   If they refuse to take the cup from you and to drink, say to them, These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: You must and shall drink. 29   I will first punish the city which bears my name; do you think that you can be exempt? No, you cannot be exempt, for I am invoking the sword against all that inhabit the earth. This is the very word of the Lord of Hosts.

30   Prophesy to them and tell them all I have said:

  The Lord roars from Zion on high
  and thunders from his holy dwelling-place.
  Yes, he roars across the heavens, his home;
an echo comes back like the shout of men treading grapes.
   31   The great noise reaches to the ends of the earth
    and all its inhabitants.
  For the Lord brings a charge against the nations,
  he goes to law with all mankind
  and has handed the wicked over to the sword.
    This is the very word of the Lord.


   32   These are the words of the Lord of Hosts:
  Ruin spreads from nation to nation,
a mighty tempest is blowing up from the ends of the earth.

33   In that day those whom the Lord has slain shall lie like dung on the ground from one end of the earth to the other; no one shall wail for them, they shall not be taken up and buried.

   34   Howl, shepherds, cry aloud,
  sprinkle yourselves with ashes, you masters of the flock.
  It is your turn to go to the slaughter, ^note
    and you shall fall like fine rams. ^note
   35   The shepherds shall have nowhere to flee,
    the flockmasters no way of escape.
36   Hark, the shepherds cry out, the flockmasters howl,

Two visions
    for the Lord is ravaging their pasture,
   37   and their peaceful homesteads lie in ruins beneath his anger.
     38   They flee like a young lion abandoning his lair,
    for their land has become a waste,
  wasted by the cruel sword ^note and by his anger.

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