1 ^eThe 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 all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3 “For twenty-three years, ^ffrom the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken ^gpersistently to you, ^hbut you have not listened. 4 ^hYou have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord ^gpersistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ⁱ‘Turn now, every one of you, ^jfrom his evil way and evil deeds, and ^kdwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 ^lDo not go after other gods to serve and worship them, ^mor provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 ^mYet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, ^mthat you might provoke me to anger ^mwith the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 ⁿbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, ^pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, ^qI will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^rthe grinding of the millstones and ^sthe light of the lamp. 11 ^pThis whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and ^tthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon ^useventy years. 12 Then after ^useventy years are completed, ^vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, ^vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, ^vmaking the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written ^win this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 ^xFor many nations ^xand great kings shall make slaves even of them, ^yand I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

15 Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ^z“Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of ^athe sword that I am sending among them.”

17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, ^band made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 ^cJerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, ^dto make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 ^ePharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20 and ^fall the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of ^gthe land of Uz and all the kings of ^hthe land of the Philistines (^hAshkelon, ^hGaza, Ekron, and the remnant of ⁱAshdod); 21 ^jEdom, ^kMoab, and the sons of ^lAmmon; 22 all the kings of ^mTyre, all the kings of ^mSidon, and the kings of the coastland across ⁿthe sea; 23 ^oDedan, ^pTema, ^qBuz, and all who cut ^rthe corners of their hair; 24 all the ^skings of Arabia and all the kings of ^fthe mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ^tElam, and all the kings of ^uMedia; 26 all the kings of ^vthe north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of ^wBabylon¹ shall drink.

27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^xDrink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of ^ythe sword that I am sending among you.’

28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^zYou must drink! 29 For behold, ^aI begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, ^yfor I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.’

30 “You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

33 ^h“And those pierced by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. ⁱThey shall not be lamented, ^jor gathered, or buried; ^jthey shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ⁱthe surviving elders of the exiles, and to ^jthe priests, ^jthe prophets, and ^jall the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after ^kKing Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^lShaphan and Gemariah the son of ^mHilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 ⁿBuild houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^opray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^pDo not let your prophets and ^qyour diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,¹ 9 for ^rit is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^sI did not send them, declares the Lord.

10 “For thus says the Lord: ^tWhen seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^uI will visit you, ^vand I will fulfill to you my promise ^vand bring you back to this place. 11 ^wFor I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare² and not for evil, ^xto give you a future and a hope. 12 ^yThen you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^yand I will hear you. 13 ^zYou will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^awith all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^band I will restore your fortunes and ^cgather you from all the nations and all the places ^dwhere I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

15 “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ 16 thus says the Lord concerning ^ethe king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 17 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^fsword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^gvile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with ^fsword, famine, and pestilence, ^hand will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ⁱto be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^dwhere I have driven them, 19 because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^jthat I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ 20 Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles ^kwhom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, ^lwho are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. 22 ^mBecause of them ⁿthis curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^owhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” 23 because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^pthey have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and ^pthey have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^qI am the one who knows, ^qand I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

24 To ^rShemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 25 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ^sZephaniah the son of ^tMaaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 ‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have ^ucharge in the house of the Lord ^vover every madman who prophesies, to put him in ^wthe stocks and neck irons. 27 Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah ^xof Anathoth who is prophesying to you? 28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; ^ybuild houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

29 ^sZephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 ^zThen the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning ^aShemaiah of Nehelam: Because ^aShemaiah had prophesied to you ^bwhen I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, 32 therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish ^aShemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, ^cand he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, ^dfor he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”