1 The word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (it was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all who lived in Jerusalem:
3 "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, up to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.
4 And the LORD sent you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you did not listen or turn your ear to hear,
5 saying, 'Turn back, each of you, from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land the LORD gave to you and to your fathers, from forever to forever.
6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and bow down to them, and do not provoke me with the work of your hands, and I will do you no evil.'
7 But you did not listen to me, declares the LORD, so as to provoke me with the work of your hands, to your own hurt.
8 "So thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not listened to my words,
9 see, I am sending for all the clans of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations around; I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror and a thing to hiss at, ruins forever.
10 I will remove from them the sound of rejoicing and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
11 All this land will become a ruin and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And when seventy years have been fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, declares the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and make it a desolation forever.
13 I will bring on that land all my words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.
14 For they too will be enslaved by many nations and great kings, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands."
15 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.
16 They will drink and reel and go mad because of the sword I am sending among them."
17 I took the cup from the hand of the LORD and made all the nations drink to whom the LORD had sent me:
18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a ruin, a horror, a thing to hiss at and a curse, as it is today;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt and his servants, his officials and all his people;
20 all the mixed multitude; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and what remains of Ashdod;
21 Edom, Moab and the children of Ammon;
22 all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland beyond the sea;
23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who clip the corners of their hair;
24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who live in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of the Medes;
26 all the kings of the north, near and far, each with his neighbor, and all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the ground. And the king of Sheshach will drink after them.
27 "Say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit; fall and do not rise, because of the sword I am sending among you.'
28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: You will surely drink!
29 For see, I am starting to bring evil on the city that is called by my name, and you, will you go completely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.'
30 "As for you, prophesy all these words against them and tell them: 'The LORD roars from on high, and from his holy dwelling he utters his voice; he roars mightily against his fold. A shout like those who tread grapes he raises against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The clamor reaches to the end of the earth, for the LORD has a dispute with the nations; he enters into judgment with all flesh; the wicked he gives to the sword, declares the LORD.'
32 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: See, evil goes out from nation to nation, and a great tempest is roused from the remotest parts of the earth.
33 The slain of the LORD will be on that day from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered or buried; they will be dung on the surface of the ground.
34 "Howl, you shepherds, and cry; roll in ashes, you lords of the flock, for your days for slaughter have been fulfilled, and your scatterings, and you will fall like a precious vessel.
35 Flight will vanish from the shepherds, and escape from the lords of the flock.
36 Hark, the cry of the shepherds, and the howl of the lords of the flock! For the LORD is devastating their pasture,
37 and the peaceful pastures are silenced before the burning anger of the LORD.
38 Like a young lion he has left his thicket, for their land has become a horror because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of his burning anger."