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Seventy Years of Captivity

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the ^(C1)fourth year of ^(C2)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the ^(C3)first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),² which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the ^(C1)people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,³ "From the ^(C1)thirteenth year of ^(C2)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, ^(F1)these ^(C3)twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, ^(F2)(C4)rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened.⁴ "And Yahweh has sent to you all His ^(C1)slaves the prophets, rising up early and sending, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,⁵ saying, '^(C1)Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the ground which Yahweh has given to you and your fathers ^(C2)forever and ever;⁶ and ^(C1)do not walk after other gods to ^(F1)serve them and to ^(F2)worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will bring no evil against you.'⁷ "Yet you have not listened to Me," declares Yahweh, "in order that you might ^(C1)provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own evil demise.

⁸ "Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'Because you have not listened to My words,⁹ behold, I will ^(C1)send and take all the families of the north,' declares Yahweh, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(C2)My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will ^(F1)devote them to destruction and ^(C3)make them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting waste place.¹⁰ 'Moreover, I will ^(F1)(C1)make the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the ^(C2)sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp, to perish from them.¹¹ '^(C1)This whole land will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon ^(C2)seventy years.

Punishment Against Babylon

¹² 'Then it will be ^(C1)when seventy years are fulfilled, that I will ^(C2)punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, even the land of the Chaldeans; and ^(C3)I will make it an everlasting desolation.¹³ 'I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in ^(C1)this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ^(C2)all the nations.¹⁴ '—^(F1)For ^(C1)many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will ^(C2)repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands—'"

¹⁵ For thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this ^(C1)cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.¹⁶ "They will ^(C1)drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and ^(C1)made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it:^18 (C1)Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a waste place, an object of horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;^19 (C1)Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people,²⁰ and all the ^(F1)(C1)foreign people, all the kings of the ^(C2)land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ^(C3)Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ^(C4)Ashdod),^21 (C1)Edom, ^(C2)Moab, and the sons of ^(C3)Ammon,²² and all the kings of ^(C1)Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of ^(C2)the coastlands which are beyond the sea,²³ and ^(C1)Dedan, Tema, ^(C2)Buz, and all who ^(C3)cut ^(F1)the corners of their hair,²⁴ and all the kings of ^(C1)Arabia and all the kings of the ^(F1)(C2)foreign people who dwell in the desert,²⁵ and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^(C1)Elam, and all the kings of ^(C2)Media,²⁶ and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and ^(C1)all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of ^(F1)(C2)Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ "You shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "^(C1)Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more because of the ^(C2)sword which I will send among you."'²⁸ "And it will be, if they ^(C1)refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "^(C2)You shall surely drink!²⁹ "For behold, I am ^(C1)beginning to bring evil against this city which is ^(C2)called by My name. But shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for ^(C3)I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," declares Yahweh of hosts.'

³⁰ "Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,

'^(C1)Yahweh will ^(C2)roar from on high
And give forth His voice from His holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against His ^(F1)pasture.
He will bellow a shout like those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹ 'A rumbling has come to the end of the earth
Because Yahweh has ^(C1)a contention against the nations.
He is entering into ^(C2)judgment with all flesh;
As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' declares Yahweh."

³² Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

"Behold, evil is going forth
From ^(C1)nation to nation,
And a great ^(C2)storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.

³³ "Those ^(C1)slain by Yahweh on that day will be from one end of the earth to the ^(F1)other. They will ^(C2)not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they will be like ^(C3)dung on the face of the ground.

³⁴ "Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;
And ^(C1)roll yourselves in ashes, you masters of the flock;
For the days of your ^(C2)slaughter and your scatterings are being fulfilled,
And you will fall like a desirable vessel.

³⁵ "^(C1)Refuge will perish from the shepherds
And escape from the mighty ones of the flock.

³⁶ "Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,
And the wailing of the mighty ones of the flock!
For Yahweh is destroying their pasture,

³⁷ And the peaceful ^(C1)pastures are made silent
Because of the ^(C2)burning anger of Yahweh.

³⁸ "He has forsaken His hiding place ^(C1)like the lion;
For their land has become an object of horror
Because of the burning desire of ^(F1)the oppressor
And because of His burning anger."