1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 This is what the LORD said to me: "Make for yourself bonds and yoke bars and put them on your neck.
3 And send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the children of Ammon, the king of Tyre and the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 Command them to say to their masters, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you are to tell your masters:
5 I made the earth, and man and beast on the face of the earth, by my great strength and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whoever is right in my eyes.
6 And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant; even the wild animals I have given him to serve him.
7 All the nations will serve him, his son and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes as well; then many nations and great kings will make him serve them.
8 And the nation or the kingdom that does not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with sword, famine and pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have finished them off by his hand.
9 As for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your soothsayers or your sorcerers, who say to you, "You will not serve the king of Babylon."
10 For they prophesy a lie to you, so as to remove you far from your land, so that I will drive you out and you will perish.
11 But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let it remain on its own soil, declares the LORD; it will work it and live on it.'"
12 And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke all these same words: "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live.
13 Why should you die, you and your people, by sword, famine and pestilence, as the LORD has spoken about the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie they prophesy to you.
15 For I did not send them, declares the LORD, and they prophesy falsely in my name, so that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you."
16 To the priests and to all this people I spoke, saying, "Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, 'See, the vessels of the house of the LORD will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,' for it is a lie they prophesy to you.
17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them plead now with the LORD of hosts that the vessels still left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.
19 For thus says the LORD of hosts about the pillars, the sea, the stands and the rest of the vessels left in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
21 yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, about the vessels left in the house of the LORD and the house of the king of Judah and Jerusalem:
22 To Babylon they will be brought, and there they will stay until the day I attend to them, declares the LORD; then I will bring them up and return them to this place."