Dual Panel1This came to Jeremiah as the word concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.
2This is what the prophet Jeremiah said to all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
3For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, up to the present day, I have been receiving the words of the LORD and speaking to you again and again, but you would not listen.
4Again and again the LORD has sent you all his servants the prophets, but you would not listen or show any inclination to listen.
5He promised that if each of you would turn from his wicked ways and evil conduct, then you would live for ever on the soil which the LORD gave to you and to your forefathers.
6You 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 shall not harm you.
7But you would 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.
8Therefore these are the words of the LORD of Hosts: Because you have not listened to my words,
9I shall summon all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, and I shall send for my servant King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. I shall bring them against this land and all its inhabitants and against all these nations round it; I shall exterminate them and make them an object of horror and astonishment, ruined for ever.
10I shall silence every sound of joy and gladness among them, the voices of bridegroom and bride, and the sound of the handmill; the light of every lamp will be quenched.
11For seventy years this whole country will be a ruin, an object of horror, and these nations will be in subjection to the king of Babylon.
12When the seventy years are up, I shall 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.
13I shall bring on that country all I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this scroll, all that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
14Mighty nations and great kings will reduce them to servitude, and thus I shall requite them for their actions and their deeds.
15These were the words of the LORD the God of Israel to me: Receive from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
16When they have drunk they will vomit and become crazed; such is the sword which I am sending among them.
17I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it:
18Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officers, turning them into a ruin, an object of horror, derision, and cursing, as they still are;
19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his courtiers, his officers, all his people,
20and all his mixed crowd of followers, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21also Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites,
22all the kings of Tyre, of Sidon, and of the overseas coastlands;
23also Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who live in the fringes of the desert,
24all the kings of Arabia living in the desert,
25all the kings of Zimri, of Elam, and of the Medes,
26all the kings of the north, neighbours or distant from each other -- all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Last of all the king of Sheshak will have to drink.
27Say to them: These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Drink this, get drunk, and be sick; fall down, never to rise again, because of the sword I am sending among you.
28If they refuse to accept the cup from you and to drink, say to them: These are the words of the LORD of Hosts: Most certainly you are to drink.
29I shall first punish the city which bears my name; do you think that you can be exempt? No, you will not be exempt, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. This is the word of the LORD of Hosts.
30Prophesy to them and tell them all I have said: The LORD roars from on high, he thunders from his holy dwelling-place. He roars loudly against his land; like those who tread the grapes he utters a shout against all the inhabitants of the land.
31The great noise reaches to the ends of the earth, for the LORD brings a charge against the nations; he arraigns all mankind and has handed the wicked over to the sword. This is the word of the LORD.
32These are the words of the LORD of Hosts: Ruin spreads from nation to nation, a mighty tempest is blowing up from the far corners of the earth.
33Those whom the LORD has slain on that day will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other; they will not be mourned or taken up for burial; they will be dung spread over the ground.
34Wail, you shepherds, cry aloud, sprinkle yourselves with ashes, you masters of the flock. It is your time to go to the slaughter, and you will fall like fine rams.
35The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the flockmasters no way of escape.
36The shepherds cry out, the flockmasters wail, for the LORD is ravaging their pasture,
37and their peaceful homesteads lie in ruins beneath the LORD's fierce anger.
38They flee like a young lion abandoning his lair, for the land has become a waste under the sword of the oppressor and the fierce anger of the LORD.