Jeremiah 27
1 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh.
THE WORD OF THE LORD WHICH HE SPOKE AGAINST BABYLON.
2 This is what Yahweh said to me, “Make fetters and a yoke for yourself. Place them on your neck.
Proclaim you amongst the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and suppress [them] not: say you, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Maerodach is delivered up.
3 Then send them out to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the people of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon. Send them by the hand of those kings' ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast.
4 Give commands to them for their masters and say, 'Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this: This is what you must say to your masters,
In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together; they shall proceed, weeping as they go, seeking the Lord their God.
5 “I myself made the earth by my great strength and my raised arm. I also made the people and animals on the earth, and I give it to anyone who is right in my eyes.
They shall ask the way till [they come to] Sion, for that way shall they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.
6 So now, I myself am giving all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant. Also, I am giving the living things in the fields to him to serve him.
My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting-place.
7 For all the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his land comes. Then many nations and great kings will subdue him.
All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave them alone, because they have sinned against the Lord: he that gathered their fathers [had] a pasture of righteousness.
8 So the nation and the kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that does not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon—I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with the plague—this is Yahweh's declaration—until I have destroyed it by his hand.
Flee you out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans, and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep.
9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your seers, your soothsayers, and sorcerers, who have been speaking to you and saying, 'Do not serve the king of Babylon.'
For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her: thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return empty.
10 For they are prophesying deceit to you in order to send you far away from your lands, for I will drive you away, and you will die.
And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied.
11 But the nation that places its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will allow it to rest in its land—this is Yahweh's declaration—and they will cultivate it and make their homes in it.”'”
Because you rejoiced, and boasted, [while] plundering mine heritage; because you exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as bulls.
12 So I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah and gave him this message, “Place your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and you will live.
Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for prosperity is confounded: [she is] the last of the nations, desolate,
13 Why will you die—you and your people—by the sword, famine, and plague, just as I have declared about the nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon?
by reason of the Lord's anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl, and they shall hiss at all her plague.
14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you and say, 'Do not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying lies to you.
Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows,
15 'For I have not sent them out—this is Yahweh's declaration—for they are prophesying deceit in my name so that I will drive you out and you will perish, both you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.'”
and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from God: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her.
16 I proclaimed this to the priests and all the people and said, “Yahweh says this: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you and say, 'Look! The objects belonging to Yahweh's house are being returned from Babylon now!' They are prophesying lies to you.
Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, [and] him that holds a sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
17 Do not listen to them. You should serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria first devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon [has gnawed] his bones.
18 If they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh has truly come to them, let them beg Yahweh of hosts not to send to Babylon the objects that remain in his house, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem.
Therefore thus says the Lord; Behold, I [will] take vengeance on the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of Assyria.
19 Yahweh of hosts says this about the pillars, the large basin known as “The Sea” and its base, and the rest of the objects that remain in this city—
And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied.
20 the objects that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Juda, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left
21 Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, says this about the objects that remain in the house of Yahweh, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem,
on the land, says the Lord. Go up against it roughly, and against them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, says the Lord, and do according to all that I command you.
22 'They will be brought to Babylon, and they will remain there until the day I have set to come for them—this is Yahweh's declaration—then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'”
A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans!
How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is Babylon become a desolation amongst the nations!
They shall come upon you, and you shall not know it, Babylon, that you will even be taken captive: you are found and taken, because you did resist the Lord.
The Lord has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his anger: for the Lord God [has] a work in the land of the Chaldeans.
For her times are come: open you her storehouses: search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her.
Dry you up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution.
A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Sion the vengeance [that comes] from the Lord our God.
Summon many against Babylon, [even] every one that bends the bow: camp against her round about; let no one of her [people] escape: render to her according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has resisted the Lord, the Holy God of Israel.
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, says the Lord.
Behold, I am against you the haughty one, says the Lord: for your day is come, and the time of your retribution.
And your pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.
Thus says the Lord; The children of Israel and the children of Juda have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed them together; for they would not let them go.
But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name: he will enter into judgement with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth;
and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men;
a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots:
a sword upon their warriors and upon the mixed people in the midst of her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall be scattered upon her water,
and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven [images]; and in the islands, where they boasted.
Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon them, says the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there.
Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger:
[the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against you, O daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail.
Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gaethan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will stand before me?
Therefore hear you the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting [it]: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall be cut off from them.
For at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard amongst the nations.
