Jeremiah 25 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Seventy Years of Desolation

Seventy Years of Suffering

Jer 25:1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

Jer 25:2

Jer 25:2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

Jer 25:3

Jer 25:3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

Jer 25:4

Jer 25:4“And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.

Jer 25:5

Jer 25:5“They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

Jer 25:6

Jer 25:6‘Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’

Jer 25:7

Jer 25:7“Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the LORD, “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Jer 25:8

Jer 25:8“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,

Jer 25:9

Jer 25:9‘behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Jer 25:10

Jer 25:10‘Moreover 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 lamp.

Jer 25:11

Jer 25:11‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jer 25:12

Jer 25:12‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

Jer 25:13

Jer 25:13‘So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

Jer 25:14

Jer 25:14‘(For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Judgment on the Nations

Jer 25:15

Jer 25:15For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

Jer 25:16

Jer 25:16“And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

Jer 25:17

Jer 25:17Then I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:

Jer 25:18

Jer 25:18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

Jer 25:19

Jer 25:19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;

Jer 25:20

Jer 25:20all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

Jer 25:21

Jer 25:21Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;

Jer 25:22

Jer 25:22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea;

Jer 25:23

Jer 25:23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;

Jer 25:24

Jer 25:24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert;

Jer 25:25

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

Jer 25:26

Jer 25:26all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach[fn] shall drink after them.

Jer 25:27

Jer 25:27“Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’

Jer 25:28

Jer 25:28“And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “You shall certainly drink!

Jer 25:29

Jer 25:29“For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the LORD of hosts.’

Jer 25:30

Jer 25:30“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

‘The LORD will roar from on high,
And utter His voice from His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against His fold.
He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

Jer 25:31

Jer 25:31A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the LORD has a controversy with the nations;
He will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD.”

Jer 25:32

Jer 25:32Thus says the LORD of hosts:

“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.

Jer 25:33

Jer 25:33“And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

Jer 25:34

Jer 25:34“Wail, shepherds, and cry!
Roll about in the ashes,
You leaders of the flock!
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;
You shall fall like a precious vessel.

Jer 25:35

Jer 25:35And the shepherds will have no way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.

Jer 25:36

Jer 25:36A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the LORD has plundered their pasture,

Jer 25:37

Jer 25:37And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jer 25:38

Jer 25:38He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land is desolate
Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
And because of His fierce anger.”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(25:26)

A code word for Babylon (compare 51:41)

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