Seventy Years of Desolation

251 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah , in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah , king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem , saying , 3 "From the thirteenth e year of Josiah the son of Amon , king of Judah , even to this day , these twenty-three e years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again , but you have not listened . 4 "And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again , but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear , 5 saying , ' Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds , and dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever e and ever ; 6 and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands , and I will do you no harm .' 7 "Yet you have not listened to Me," declares the Lord , "in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm .

8 "Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts , 'Because e you have not obeyed My words , 9 behold , I will send and take all the families of the north ,' declares the Lord , 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , My servant , and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about ; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing , and an everlasting desolation . 10 'Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy 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 lamp . 11 ' This whole land will be a desolation and a horror , and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years . 12 'Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation ,' declares the Lord , 'for their iniquity , and the land of the Chaldeans ; and I will make it an everlasting desolation . 13 'I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations . 14 '(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands .)' "

The Cup of Wrath for the Nations

15 For thus the Lord , the God of Israel , says to me, "Take this 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 drink and stagger and go mad because e of the sword that I will send among them." 17 Then I took the cup from the Lord'S hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes , to make them a ruin , a horror , a hissing and a curse , as it is this day ; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt , his servants , his princes and all his people ; 20 and all the foreign people , all the kings of the land of Uz , all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon , Gaza , Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod ); 21 Edom , Moab and the sons of Ammon ; 22 and all the kings of Tyre , all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea ; 23 and Dedan , Tema , Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert ; 25 and all the kings of Zimri , all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media ; 26 and all the kings of the north , near and far , one with another ; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground , and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 "You shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel , " Drink , be drunk , vomit , fall and rise no more because e of the sword which I will send among you."' 28 "And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink , then you will say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts : " You shall surely drink ! 29 "For behold , I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name , and shall you be completely free from punishment ? You will not be free from punishment ; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth ," declares the Lord of hosts .'

30 "Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words , and you shall say to them, 'The Lord will roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy habitation ; He will roar mightily against His fold . He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth . 31 'A clamor has come to the end of the earth , Because the Lord has a controversy with the nations . He is entering into judgment with all flesh ; As for the wicked , He has given them to the sword ,' declares the Lord ." 32 Thus says the Lord of hosts , "Behold , evil is going forth From nation to nation , And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth . 33 "Those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other e . They will not be lamented , gathered or buried ; they will be like dung on the face of the ground . 34 "Wail , you shepherds , and cry ; And wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock ; For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come , And you will fall like a choice vessel . 35 " Flight will perish from the shepherds , And escape from the masters of the flock . 36 "Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds , And the wailing of the masters of the flock ! For the Lord is destroying their pasture , 37 "And the peaceful folds are made silent Because e of the fierce anger of the Lord . 38 "He has left His hiding place like the lion ; For their land has become a horror Because e of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because e of His fierce anger ."