Seventy Years of Captivity

1The word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah. The same is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. 2And the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even until this day, which is the twenty-third year, the word of the Lord has been given to me, and I have spoken to you, rising while it was still night, and speaking, and yet you have not listened. 4And the Lord has sent to you all his servants, the prophets, rising at first light, and sending, and yet you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ears, so that you would hear, 5when he said: Return, each one from his evil way, and from your wicked thoughts. And you shall dwell in the land, which the Lord has given to you and to your fathers, from ancient times and even forever. 6And do not choose to go after strange gods, so that you would serve them and adore them. And do not provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands. And then I will not afflict you. 7And yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, and so you have provoked me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own harm.”

8Because of this, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Since you have not listened to my words, 9behold, I will send for and take all the associates of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will lead them over this land, and over its inhabitants, and over all the nations that are around it. And I will destroy them, and I will set them in the midst of stupor and hissing, and continual desolations. 10And I will perish from them the voice of gladness and the voice of rejoicing, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp. 11And this entire land will be in desolation and in stupor. And all these nations will serve the king of Babylon, for seventy years.

12And when the seventy years have been completed, I will visit their iniquity upon the king of Babylon, and upon that nation, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord. And I will set it in continual desolations. 13And I will lead over that land all my words, which I have spoken against it, all that has been written in this book, everything whatsoever that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14For they have served them, though these were populous nations and great kings. And I will repay them according to their works and according to the deeds of their hands.”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

15For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take the chalice of the wine of this fury from my hand. And you shall cause all the nations, to which I will send you, to drink from it. 16And they will drink, and be stirred up, and become maddened, before the face of the sword that I will send among them.”

17And I received the chalice from the hand of the Lord, and I caused all the nations, to which the Lord has sent me, to drink from it: 18Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its leaders, so that I gave them over to desolation, and stupor, and hissing, and a curse, just as it is this day. 19“But as for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his leaders, and all his people, 20and the entire populace in general: all the kings of the land of the south, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21and Idumea, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, 22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the land of the islands that are across the sea, 23and Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all those who have shaved off their hair, 24and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, who live in the desert, 25and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media, 26and likewise, all the kings of the north from near to far, each one facing his brother, and all the kingdoms upon the face of the earth, and the king of Sesac: all these shall drink after them.

27And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, and be inebriated, and vomit, and fall down. And you shall not rise up before the face the sword that I will send among you. 28And if they refuse to receive the cup from your hand and to drink, you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Certainly, you shall drink! 29For behold, I am beginning to afflict the city in which my name has been invoked, and will you be innocent and immune? You will not be immune! For I will call the sword over all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.

30And you shall prophesy to them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord will roar from on high, and he will utter his voice from his holy habitation. When roaring, he will roar over the place of his beauty. He will call out, like those who chant in rhythm as they trample the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31The sound of it will penetrate even to the ends of the earth. For the Lord is entering into judgment with the nations. He himself is entering into judgment with all flesh. I have delivered the impious to the sword, says the Lord.”

32Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, an affliction will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind will go forth from the ends of the earth.

33And the slain of the Lord will be, on that day, from one end of the earth, even to the other end. They will not be mourned, and they will not be gathered, and they will not be buried. They will lie upon the face of the earth like dung.

The Cry of the Shepherds

34Wail, O shepherds, and cry out! And sprinkle yourselves with ashes, O nobles of the flock! For the days have been completed that lead to your slaughter and your destruction. And you will fall like precious vessels.

35And escape will flee from the shepherds, and safety will flee from the nobility of the flock.”

36There is a voice of outcry from the shepherds, and a wailing among the nobles among the flock! For the Lord has laid waste to their pastures.

37And the fields of peace have been silenced before the face of the fury of the Lord.

38He has abandoned those he sheltered like a lion. For the earth has become a desolation before the face of the anger of the dove, and before the face of the fury of the Lord.