Jeremiah 25

• 1. This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.
• 2. Jeremiah the prophet said to the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
• 3. "For the past twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now--the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.
• 4. "Again and again, the LORD has sent you his prophets, but you have not listened or even tried to hear.
• 5. Each time the message was this: `Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.
• 6. Do not make me angry by worshiping the idols you have made. Then I will not harm you.'
• 7. "But you would not listen to me," says the LORD. "You made me furious by worshiping your idols, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.
• 8. And now the LORD Almighty says: Because you have not listened to me,
• 9. I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the other nations near you. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.
• 10. I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your businesses will fail, and all your homes will stand silent and dark.
• 11. This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
• 12. "Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins, says the LORD. I will make the country of the Babylonians an everlasting wasteland.
• 13. I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book--all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.
• 14. Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people."
• 15. Then the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
• 16. When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them."
• 17. So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it--every nation the LORD sent me to.
• 18. I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.
• 19. I went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, his officials, his princes, and his people. They, too, drank from that terrible cup,
• 20. along with all the foreigners living in that land. So did all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.
• 21. Then I went to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
• 22. and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.
• 23. I went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.
• 24. I went to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,
• 25. and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.
• 26. And I went to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other--all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the LORD's anger.
• 27. Then the LORD said to me, "Now tell them, `The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit, and you will fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.'
• 28. And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, `The LORD Almighty says: You must drink from it. You cannot escape!
• 29. I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city where my own name is honored. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!'
• 30. "Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, `The LORD will roar loudly against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout against everyone on the earth, like the harvesters do as they crush juice from the grapes.
• 31. His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with his sword. The LORD has spoken!'"
• 32. This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!"
• 33. In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered like dung on the ground.
• 34. Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like fragile pottery.
• 35. You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.
• 36. Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds, to the leaders of the flock shouting in despair, for the LORD is spoiling their pastures.
• 37. Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the LORD's fierce anger.
• 38. He has left his den like a lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD's fierce anger.

Jeremiah 26

• 1. This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah.
• 2. The LORD said, "Stand out in front of the Temple of the LORD, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.
• 3. Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will be able to withhold the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.
• 4. "Say to them, `This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me and obey the law I have given you,
• 5. and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets--for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them--
• 6. then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.'"
• 7. The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the LORD's Temple.
• 8. But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted.
• 9. "What right do you have to prophesy in the LORD's name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed?" And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.
• 10. When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court.
• 11. The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city."
• 12. Then Jeremiah spoke in his own defense. "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city," he said. "The LORD gave me every word that I have spoken.
• 13. But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the LORD your God, he will cancel this disaster that he has announced against you.
• 14. As for me, I am helpless and in your power--do with me as you think best.
• 15. But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard."
• 16. Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."
• 17. Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to the people there.
• 18. They said, "Think back to the days when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, `This is what the LORD Almighty says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the hilltop, where the Temple now stands.'
• 19. But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the LORD. They begged him to have mercy on them. Then the LORD held back the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah, who knows what will happen to us?"
• 20. (At this time, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the LORD. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.
• 21. When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plot and escaped to Egypt.
• 22. Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah.
• 23. They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.)
• 24. Ahikam son of Shaphan also stood with Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.

Jeremiah 27

• 1. This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah.
• 2. The LORD said to me, "Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs.
• 3. Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.
• 4. Give them this message for their masters: `This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
• 5. By my great power I have made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose.
• 6. Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control.
• 7. All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon.
• 8. So you must submit to Babylon's king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.
• 9. " `Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, "The king of Babylon will not conquer you."
• 10. They are all liars, and I will drive you from your land and send you far away to die.
• 11. But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!'"
• 12. Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. "If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his people," I said.
• 13. "Why do you insist on dying--you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon's king?
• 14. Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, `The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' They are liars.
• 15. This is what the LORD says: I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die--you and all these prophets, too."
• 16. Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, "This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie!
• 17. Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed?
• 18. If they really are the LORD's prophets, let them pray to the LORD Almighty about the gold utensils that are still left in the LORD's Temple and in the king's palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to Babylon!
• 19. "For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the bronze pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles.
• 20. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem.
• 21. Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of Judah's king:
• 22. They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them, says the LORD. But someday I will bring them back to Jerusalem again."

New Living Translation: 267 of 324 days.