The Hebrew Prophets

Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;

all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert;

all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;

all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.

“Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’

If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!

For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of Hosts.’

So you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them: ‘The LORD will roar from on high; He will raise His voice from His holy habitation. He will roar loudly over His pasture; like those who tread the grapes, He will call out with a shout against all the inhabitants of the earth.

The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth because the LORD brings a charge against the nations. He brings judgment on all mankind and puts the wicked to the sword,’” declares the LORD.

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”

Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

Flight will evade the shepherds, and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.

Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.

The peaceful meadows have been silenced because of the LORD’s burning anger.

He has left His den like a lion, for their land has been made a desolation by the sword of the oppressor, and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

“This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word.

Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I may relent of the disaster I am planning to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds.

And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you,

and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,

then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

Now the priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD,