Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 25:15

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 25:15. Take the wine cup of this fury — For an ample illustration of this passage and simile, Isaiah 51:21.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Judgment on various nations (25:15-38)

God is righteous and holy, and in justice pours out his wrath on those who arrogantly defy his authority. His judgment upon wicked nations is likened to a cup of wine given to a person to make him drunk so that he staggers and falls (15-16). Through the spreading conquests of the Babylonian armies, God has punished Judah (17-18), along with a variety of other nations far and near (19-25). But in the end Babylon, the agent God has used to carry out his judgment, will itself be the object of God’s wrath (26. Sheshach is another name for Babylon). No nation can escape once God has determined to punish it (27-28), and Judah, God’s chosen nation, will be the first to suffer (29).
A further picture of the terrible judgment to fall on the wicked is that of a lion’s attack on a flock of sheep. When the judge of all the earth acts in his holy judgment, the wicked will find no place of refuge (30-31). The bodies of the dead will lie rotting and stinking in the sun, like manure (32-33). The leaders of the people (shepherds of the flock) will look for a way of escape when the day of disaster comes, but they too will perish (34-35). As shepherds cry out when they see violence at work within their peaceful pastures, so Judah’s leaders will wail when they see the Babylonian armies desolating their land (36-38).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

"The cup of the wine of wrath" This was no literal cup, but a symbol of God's wrath against many nations, a number of which would be named in this very chapter. Significantly, even the apostate church was made to drink of the cup of the wine of God's wrath in Revelation 18:6. It is also of very great significance that at the very time when God's people were to drink of the wine of God's wrath, the nations of mankind who knew not the Lord were also summoned to drink of the same cup! So will it be at the end of the age. When the final apostasy of mankind has taken place, and even the church has disappeared, or nearly so, from the face of the earth, as foretold by the Saviour in Luke 18:8, at that very moment the destruction of all the world shall immediately follow upon the occasion of the final Judgment, the redeemed in Christ Jesus being the sole exceptions!

The metaphor of God's giving the nations a cup of wrath that caused them to be mad and drunken ascribes "all that happens," whether good or evil, to God. This is hard for moderns to understand; but all of the prophets stressed this. "Shall there be evil in a city, and Jehovah hath not done it" (Amos 3:6)? How is God the author of evil? He has created the laws of control, not merely for the universe, but for men as well; and when men violate God's laws of control, evil is sure to result. In that sense, God does the evil. This was a necessary point of view on the part of God's prophets, because the pagans ascribed all evil to members of their pagan pantheon. The Great Truth proclaimed by the prophets was that God is the First Cause, and the Last Cause, and the Only Cause. As Cheyne stated it: "The faith of the Prophets compared to ours was as an oak tree to a sapling; and therefore they could express the truth of the Universal Causation of Jehovah with perfect tranquillity."T. K. Cheyne, Jeremiah in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 551.

"The sword that I will send among them" This could mean the actual sword of human warfare, or God's own sword, as mentioned in Genesis 3:24. God is not dependent upon the swords of men for the accomplishment of his will. Many other instruments are available to the Eternal God.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Saith - Or, hath said. This prophecy - placed by the Septuagint after those against the nations - forms an impressive statement of the manner in which the new kingdom of Babylon was to execute Yahweh’s wrath upon the nations far and near.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Jeremiah now explains more at large what might on account of its brevity have appeared obscure. He had spoken of all nations, but his discourse was abrupt; for he had not yet openly told us that he had been sent by God as a herald to summon all kings and nations before his tribunal, and to declare what was to be. As, then, the Prophet had referred to nothing of this kind, his discourse was ambiguous. But he now declares that a cup from God’s hand had been delivered to him, which he was to give to all nations to drink. We hence see that there is here nothing new, but that the Prophet is, as it were, the interpreter of his previous prophecy, which was briefly stated.

Moreover, that what he said might have more weight, he relates a vision, Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel unto me, Take the cup of the wine of this fury from my hand ⁽¹³⁵⁾ We have said in other places that the fulfillment of prophetic truth was not without reason dwelt upon, and that the servants of God were so armed, as though the execution of all that they alleged was ready at hand. They were said to demolish cities and to overthrow kingdoms even for this reason, because such was the torpidity of men, that they gave no credit to God, except they were brought to see the event as it were before their eyes. But as this subject has been handled more fully elsewhere, I shall only touch upon it here. He then says, that a cup had been delivered to him by God’s hand; by which words he intimates, that he did not come forth of his own will to terrify the Jews and other nations, but that he faithfully proclaimed what had been committed to him; and he also intimates, that God spoke nothing now but what he meant shortly to execute; and this is what is to be understood by the word cup.

He calls it the cup of the wine of fury, or of wrath. This metaphor often occurs in the prophets, but in a different sense. For God is said sometimes to inebriate men when he stupifies them, and drives them at one time to madness, and at another time deprives them of common sense and understanding, so that they become like beasts; but he is said also to inebriate them, when, by outward calamities, he fills them with astonishment. So now the Prophet calls calamity the cup of wrath, even that calamity, which like fire was to inflame the minds of all those who received no benefit from chastisements. Madness, indeed, means no other thing than the despair of those who perceive God’s hand stretched out against them, and thus rage and clamor, and curse heaven and earth, themselves and God. This is what we are to understand by wrath He compares this wrath to wine, because they who are thus smitten by God’s hand are carried away as it were beyond themselves, and repent not, nor think of their sins with calmness of mind, but abandon themselves to a furious rage. We now then understand why the Prophet says, that the cup of the wine of wrath had been given to him.

Then he adds, An, make all the nations to whom I send thee ⁽¹³⁶⁾ to drink it Here, again, he confirms what I lately referred to, that his office was farther extended than to teach in the middle of the Church, but that he had also been chosen to proclaim as a herald God’s judgments on all nations. He was, indeed, sent to the Jews otherwise than to heathen nations, for he was set over them as a teacher, and that for their salvation, provided they were not irreclaimable; but he was sent to the heathens expressly to threaten them with what was nigh at hand. He was, however, sent both to the Jews and to all other nations, as he will hereafter more distinctly shew in due order.

We now see the design and object of what is here said; — to add authority to his last prophecy, Jeremiah, in the first place, sets forth the vision which had been presented to him; and then he testifies that he brought nothing of his own, but only obeyed God and faithfully performed his commands; and thirdly, he intimates that he was not only appointed a teacher in the Church of God, but was also a witness of his vengeance on all nations. It follows, —

(135) I conceive that the sentence may be thus rendered, —

Take the cup of the wine of fury, even this, from my hand.

So do Gataker and Venema render the sentence, referring “this” to the cup and not to “fury.” The word for “fury” is heat; it means hot, boiling, or burning wrath, — rendered “fury” by the Vulg. and Syr., — “malediction” by the Targ., and “unmixed” (the cup of this unmixed wine) by the Sept. — Ed.

(136) Literally, “whom I send thee to them;” which the Sept. have rendered almost word for word, πρὸς ἅ (ἔθνη)-πρὸς αὐτούς; but the first, πρὸς is not in the original. This was an attempt to transplant the peculiarity of one language to another, which is often the ease with the Septuagint. The Welsh is literally the same with the Hebrew. — Ed

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 25

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ( Jeremiah 25:1 ).

So now we're going back in time. This was before Zedekiah was king. This was when Jehoiakim was king. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years. He was a very evil king, but he was the son of Josiah who reigned for thirty-one years. Jeremiah was called to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. So Josiah is now dead. He's been dead for four years, so it happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim.

the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ( Jeremiah 25:1 ).

So he's giving you the time of this prophecy.

The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem ( Jeremiah 25:2 ),

So this is just a separate prophecy of Jeremiah and it's isolated from the others. It sits here by itself. "Which Jeremiah the prophet spake to all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem."

saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the twenty-third year ( Jeremiah 25:2-3 ),

So God called Jeremiah to prophesy in the thirteenth year that Josiah was reigning. Jeremiah has now been prophesying twenty-three years. They figure that he was probably seventeen years old when God called him to prophesy and so he has been prophesying now for twenty-three years. It means that Jeremiah is about forty years old at the time of this particular prophecy.

the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened ( Jeremiah 25:3 ).

I've been speaking to you for twenty-three years, but you haven't listened to me yet.

And 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. They 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 ( Jeremiah 25:4-5 ):

Just live right and you can stay here. Serve God and He'll keep you here.

Do not to 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. But you've not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because you have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar 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 you, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of merriment, 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. And this whole land shall be desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years ( Jeremiah 25:6-11 ).

And so here Jeremiah is predicting that the Babylonian captivity will last for seventy years. Now you read in the book of Daniel, chapter 9, that Daniel said, "And after the reading of the prophets I realize that the seventy years of captivity were about over. I sought to inquire of the Lord." So Daniel, no doubt, had these prophecies of Jeremiah. He had been reading them. And he understood by the writings of Jeremiah that their period of captivity in Babylon would be seventy years. Here Jeremiah declares that in this particular prophecy. Daniel had this prophecy and guided his affairs by the Word of God. "I know that the seventy years are about up," so he sought the Lord to see if God had any special ministry for him in the repatriation.

"They shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years." Now the seventy years was because they had been dwelling in the land since the time of Joshua 490 years. And God had told them in the law that every seventh year you're to let the ground rest. The ground is to have a sabbath. Don't plant anything in the seventh year. Just in the sixth year, gather up and what you gather in the sixth year will be enough food to get you through the seventh year. You can eat that which grows of itself, but don't till the land, don't plant the land. Let it just grow of itself in the seventh year.

Sort of a plant rotation of crop kind of thing that the farmers have realized now is so valuable. I was up in Canada a while back and went out to the forage farms, and they took me out to this huge wheat farm. And a lot of it they had not planted. And he said, "No, we let the ground rest just like the Bible says. We find that we get much better crops." And so he said, "We of course have..." They still plant every year, but a section of the ground is always set aside that every seventh year they just let it rest. They don't plant anything in it. They just give the ground a rest. And he said, "We find that we get much better crops by giving the ground rest."

Now they had been in the land for 490 years, but they had not obeyed the commandment of God. They hadn't given the ground the sabbath. The ground hasn't rested in 490 years. So God says, "Okay, you don't give it its rest, I'll give it its rest. I'll put you out of the land for seventy years and the ground will just get its whole sabbath." So you divide the 490 by seven and you find out then comes the seventy years that the ground have been robbed for seventy different sabbaths, the ground had been robbed of its rest. So God says, "Oh, no, I'll get My dues." You know, God will always get His dues. You just. It doesn't pay to try and take away from God. God will get His dues one way or another. And just figure on that.

And 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 a perpetual desolation. And 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. For 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 ( Jeremiah 25:12-14 ).

So Babylon will be punished after the seventy years. God will bring His judgment against Babylon because of their iniquities. God will use Babylon as His instrument to bring judgment against Israel. But later God's judgment will come upon Babylon itself.

Now at this point we jump on out to the Great Tribulation of the future. So take a leap through the time capsule.

For 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 ( Jeremiah 25:15 ).

Now there's a cup of the wrath of God's wine in His hand. If you'll turn to Revelation chapter 14, you will find corresponding verses beginning with verse Jeremiah 25:9 , "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.'" Verse Jeremiah 25:19 , "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered," this Isaiah 14:19 ,"he thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." And so the cup of indignation, here God introduces it to Jeremiah.

And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; And 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, the land of Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, And 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 [Babylon, Sheshach is another name for Babylon] Sheshach shall drink after them. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink, and be drunken, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And 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; You will certainly drink. For, 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 ( Jeremiah 25:16-29 ).

The Great Tribulation period. Now do you think that God would punish Jerusalem for their iniquity and allow us to go unpunished? Surely our iniquity is no greater than that of Israel. A nation that has forsaken God. A nation that is living after pleasure. A nation that has forsaken righteousness. A nation that has ordered prayer out of its school. A nation that has lived by godless humanism and is controlled by godless humanism in our courts, in our educational systems. You think we can go unpunished? Oh no, God says, "Take it. You're going to drink of it, too. All of the earth." God's great judgment is coming upon all of the earth. "You will certainly drink for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts."

Therefore prophesy against them 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. A 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 ( Jeremiah 25:30-31 ).

Notice that? He will "give those that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord." But what about those who are righteous by their faith in Jesus Christ?

You remember when God was ready to judge Sodom and Gomorrah and the angel of the Lord was on his way. And Abraham invited him to come in, prepared a meal. They said, "Shall we reveal unto Abraham what we're doing?" They said, "We're heading down to Sodom. That place is so horrible, so rotten that we're going to destroy it. God is bringing His judgment against them." Abraham said, "Wait a minute, isn't God fair? Isn't the Lord of the earth just? What if there are righteous people living in Sodom? Would it be fair to destroy the righteous people with the wicked? Maybe there's fifty righteous people." The Lord said, "If there is fifty righteous people, we'll spare the city." "Oh? Well, you know, what if there is just ten less than fifty? What if there are only forty?" "We'll spare it for forty." "How about thirty?" "Yes." "Would you believe twenty?" "Yes, we'll spare it for twenty." "Let me talk once more and after this I won't ask anymore. How about ten?" Father Abraham. Be careful how you deal with his descendants. You'll get the best bargain they can. "How about ten?" I love them. They're God's people. They really are and I love them. And I bless them in the name of the Lord. The Lord said, "I'll spare it for ten."

You mean, the whole wickedness of Sodom will be allowed to go on if there are ten righteous people? That's right. For the sake of the ten God will not bring His judgment. You're the salt of the earth. You are the preserving influence. People may scorn you. They may deride you. They may say cruel and cutting things, but they better be thankful you're around. For if you weren't around, this place wouldn't be. God's judgment would have already fallen. But for the righteous' sake God withholds.

The angel came to Sodom he could not find ten righteous. He found one righteous man. And the angel said, "Get out of here, we're going to destroy this place. Don't look back." And the angel led Lot and his wife and his two daughters. But his wife turning back turned to a pillar of salt and so only Lot and his two daughters escaped. He was that. And Peter said that righteous man. He was the only one there. But notice, God did not bring judgment upon Lot, but delivered him before the judgment came. Peter uses that as an example to show that the church will not go through the Great Tribulation. "For God knows how to deliver the righteous, but to reserve the ungodly for the day of judgment" ( 2 Peter 2:9 ). So here talking about the Great Tribulation of His coming, God is going to bring His sword against all that are wicked, saith the Lord. But those that are righteous the Lord will have caught out in the rapture of the church.

Thus 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. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the eaRuth ( Jeremiah 25:32-33 ):

Finally found the place where they're slain in the Spirit. All right. All over the place. From one end of the earth to the other.

they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, 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. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. He 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 ( Jeremiah 25:33-38 ).

That Great Tribulation, the time of God's judgment that shall fall upon the earth. Thank God that we as the church do not have to face that horror and terror that is coming. Revelation chapter 6 through 18 give detailed description of this period of time of three-and-a-half years. You can read about it there.

Father, we thank You again for the opportunity of gathering to learn of Thee and to study Your Word and to gain insight to ourselves as Your Holy Spirit takes Thy Word and probes our hearts and our lives. As we can look at ourselves, God help us that we will not go away and forget quickly what the Spirit has shown to us tonight. But oh God, may we indeed forsake the way of the flesh and may we walk after the Spirit. And may we live after righteousness and live after Thee, O Lord, serving Thee, loving Thee. And so Father, in Jesus' name, let now Thy Spirit imbed upon our hearts Thy truths and we thank You for it. Amen. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Lord instructed Jeremiah to take from His hand, figuratively, a cup (or flagon) of His wrath, and to cause all the nations-to whom the Lord would send him-to drink from it. The cup is a common figure for the wrath of God in Scripture (cf. Jeremiah 13:12-14; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Job 21:20; Psalms 60:3; Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:21-22; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Habakkuk 2:16; Mark 10:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 16:19; Revelation 18:6). It is also a symbol of God’s blessing (cf. Psalms 16:5; Psalms 23:5; Luke 22:17; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25). In a larger sense, it refers to one’s lot in life, be it cursing or blessing. This was another symbolic action that God prescribed to communicate to His people, though in this case the action was not literal.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Yahweh’s cup of wrath for the nations 25:15-29

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me,.... The prophet:

take the wine cup of this fury at my hand; in a vision the Lord appeared to Jeremiah with a cup of wine in his hand, which he bid him take of him. It is usual in Scripture for the judgments of God on men to be signified by a cup of hot and intoxicating liquor, Isaiah 51:17; particularly in Psalms 75:8; to which reference may be had; as John seems to refer to the passage here in Revelation 14:10; called a cup, because they are in measure, and but small in comparison of what will be inflicted in the world to come; and a cup of "fury", because they proceed from the wrath of God, stirred up by the sins of men. Jarchi interprets this cup of the prophecy of vengeance, which the Lord delivered to Jeremiah; and not amiss:

and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it; prophesy unto them what wrath and ruin shall come upon them.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      15 For 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.   16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.   17 Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:   18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;   19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;   20 And 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,   21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,   22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,   23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,   24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,   25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,   26 And 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.   27 Therefore 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.   28 And 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.   29 For, 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.

      Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country. The cup in the vision is to be a sword in the accomplishment of it: so it is explained, Jeremiah 25:16; Jeremiah 25:16. It is the sword that I will send among them, the sword of war, that should be irresistibly strong and implacably cruel.

      I. As to the circumstances of this judgment, observe,

      1. Whence this destroying sword should come--from the hand of God. It is the sword of the Lord (Jeremiah 47:6; Jeremiah 47:6), bathed in heaven,Isaiah 34:5. Wicked men are made use of as his sword, Psalms 17:13. It is the wine-cup of his fury. It is the just anger of God that sends this judgment. The nations have provoked him by their sins, and they must fall under the tokens of his wrath. These are compared to some intoxicating liquor, which they shall be forced to drink of, as, formerly, condemned malefactors were sometimes executed by being compelled to drink poison. The wicked are said to drink the wrath of the Almighty,Job 21:20; Revelation 14:10. Their share of troubles in his world is represented by the dregs of a cup of red wine full of mixture, Psalms 75:8. See Psalms 11:6. The wrath of God in this world is but as a cup, in comparison of the full streams of it in the other world.

      2. By whose hand it should be sent to them--by the hand of Jeremiah as the judge set over the nations (Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 1:10), to pass his sentence upon them, and by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar as the executioner. What a much greater figure then does the poor prophet make than what the potent prince makes, if we look upon their relation to God, though in the eye of the world it was the reverse of it! Jeremiah must take the cup at God's hand, and compel the nations to drink it. He foretels no hurt to them but what God appoints him to foretel; and what is foretold by a divine authority will certainly be fulfilled by a divine power.

      3. On whom it should be sent--on all the nations within the verge of Israel's acquaintance and the lines of their communication. Jeremiah took the cup, and made all the nations to drink of it, that is, he prophesied concerning each of the nations here mentioned that they should share in this great desolation that was coming. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are put first (Jeremiah 25:18; Jeremiah 25:18); for judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), at the sanctuary, Ezekiel 9:6. Whether Nebuchadrezzar had his eye principally upon Jerusalem and Judah in this expedition or no does not appear; probably he had; for it was as considerable as any of the nations here mentioned. However God had his eye principally to them. And this part of the prophecy was already begun to be accomplished; this is denoted by that melancholy parenthesis (as it is this day), for in the fourth year of Jehoiakim things had come into a very bad posture, and all the foundations were out of course. Pharaoh king of Egypt comes next, because the Jews trusted to that broken reed (Jeremiah 25:19; Jeremiah 25:19); the remains of them fled to Egypt, and there Jeremiah particularly foretold the destruction of that country, Jeremiah 43:10; Jeremiah 43:11. All the other nations that bordered upon Canaan must pledge Jerusalem in this bitter cup, this cup of trembling. The mingled people, the Arabians (so some), some rovers of divers nations that lived by rapine (so others); the kings of the land of Uz, joined to the country of the Edomites. The Philistines had been vexatious to Israel, but now their cities and their lords become a prey to this mighty conqueror. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, are places well known to border upon Israel; the Isles beyond, or beside, the sea, are supposed to be those parts of Phœnicia and Syria that lay upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Dedan and the other countries mentioned (Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 25:24) seem to have lain upon the confines of Idumea and Arabia the desert. Those of Elam are the Persians, with whom the Medes are joined, now looked upon as inconsiderable and yet afterwards able to make reprisals upon Babylon for themselves and all their neighbours. The kings of the north, that lay nearer to Babylon, and others that lay at some distance, will be sure to be seized on and made a prey of by the victorious sword of Nebuchadrezzar. Nay, he shall push on his victories with such incredible fury and success that all the kingdoms of the world that were then and there known should become sacrifices to his ambition. Thus Alexander is said to have conquered the world, and the Roman empire is called the world,Luke 2:1. Or it may be taken as reading the doom of all the kingdoms of the earth; one time or other, they shall feel the dreadful effects of war. The world has been, and will be, a great cockpit, while men's lusts war as they do in their members,James 4:1. But, that the conquerors may see their fate with the conquered, it concludes, The king of Sheshach shall drink after them, that is, the king of Babylon himself, who has given his neighbours all this trouble and vexation, shall at length have it return upon his own head. That by Sheshach is meant Babylon is plain from Jeremiah 51:41; Jeremiah 51:41; but whether it was another name of the same city or the name of another city of the same kingdom is uncertain. Babylon's ruin was foretold, Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 25:13. Upon this prophecy of its being the author of the ruin of so many nations it is very fitly repeated here again.

      4. What should be the effect of it. The desolations which the sword should make in all these kingdoms are represented by the consequences of excessive drinking (Jeremiah 25:16; Jeremiah 25:16): They shall drink, and be moved, and be mad. They shall be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise no more,Jeremiah 25:27; Jeremiah 25:27. Now this may serve, (1.) To make us loathe the sin of drunkenness, that the consequences of it are made use of to set forth a most woeful and miserable condition. Drunkenness deprives men, for the present, of the use of their reason, makes them mad. It takes from them likewise that which, next to reason, is the most valuable blessing, and that is health; it makes them sick, and endangers the bones and the life. Men in drink often fall and rise no more; it is a sin that is its own punishment. How wretchedly are those intoxicated and besotted that suffer themselves at any time to be intoxicated, especially to be by the frequent commission of the sin besotted with wine or strong drink! (2.) To make us dread the judgments of war. When God sends the sword upon a nation, with warrant to make it desolate, it soon becomes like a drunken man, filled with confusion at the alarms of war, put into a hurry; its counsellors mad, and at their wits' end, staggering in all the measures they take, all the motions they make, sick at heart with continual vexation, vomiting up the riches they have greedily swallowed down (Job 20:15), falling down before the enemy, and as unable to get up again, or do any thing to help themselves, as a man dead drunk is,Habakkuk 2:16.

      5. The undoubted certainty of it, with the reason given for it, Jeremiah 25:28; Jeremiah 25:29. They will refuse to take the cup at thy hand; not only they will be loth that the judgment should come, but they will be loth to believe that ever it will come; they will not give credit to the prediction of so despicable a man as Jeremiah. But he must tell them that it is the word of the Lord of hosts, he hath said it; and it is in vain for them to struggle with Omnipotence: You shall certainly drink. And he must give them this reason, It is a time of visitation, it is a reckoning day, and Jerusalem has been called to an account already: I begin to bring evil on the city that is called by my name; its relation to me will not exempt it from punishment, and should you be utterly unpunished? No; If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If those who have some good in them smart so severely for the evil that is found in them, can those expect to escape who have worse evils, and no good, found among them? If Jerusalem be punished for learning idolatry of the nations, shall not the nations be punished, of whom they learned it? No doubt they shall: I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, for they have helped to debauch the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

      II. Upon this whole matter we may observe, 1. That there is a God that judges in the earth, to whom all the nations of the earth are accountable, and by whose judgment they must abide. 2. That God can easily bring to ruin the greatest nations, the most numerous and powerful, and such as have been most secure. 3. That those who have been vexatious and mischievous to the people of God will be reckoned with for it at last. Many of these nations had in their turns given disturbance to Israel, but now comes destruction on them. The year of the redeemer will come, even the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. 4. That the burden of the word of the Lord will at last become the burden of his judgments. Isaiah had prophesied long since against most of these nations (Jeremiah 13:1-27; Jeremiah 13:1-27, &c.) and now at length all his prophecies will have their complete fulfilling. 5. That those who are ambitious of power and dominion commonly become the troublers of the earth and the plagues of their generation. Nebuchadrezzar was so proud of his might that he had no sense of right. These are the men that turn the world upside down, and yet expect to be admired and adored. Alexander thought himself a great prince when others thought him no better than a great pirate. 6. That the greatest pomp and power in this world are of very uncertain continuance. Before Nebuchadrezzar's greater force kings themselves must yield and become captives.