Jeremiahchapter 25

A.Twenty-Three Years of Warning; Seventy Years in Babylonvv. 1-14

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows: 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three 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 all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear. 5 The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’ 7 ‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’ 8 Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12 But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words 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 enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”

B.The Wine Cup of Fury Passed Among the Nationsvv. 15-29

15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16 And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.” 17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me, 18 to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people; 20 all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26 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. 27 “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.’ 28 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! 29 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.’

C.The LORD Roars from on High; No Way to Flee for the Shepherdsvv. 30-38

30 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. 31 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. 32 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.” 33 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. 34 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. 35 Flight will evade the shepherds, and escape will elude the leaders of the flock. 36 Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. 37 The peaceful meadows have been silenced because of the LORD’s burning anger. 38 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.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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In Jehoiakim's fourth year Jeremiah tallies twenty-three years of unheeded preaching ('ye have not hearkened') and speaks the number that will shape Daniel's prayer and the exile's calendar: 'these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years' (25:11), after which Babylon herself is called to account. Then the vision widens to the whole earth: the cup of the wine of wrath taken from Jehovah's hand and made to be drunk by nation after nation, Jerusalem first and Sheshach last. Jehovah roars from on high like one that treads the grapes; the slain shall be from one end of the earth to the other; and the shepherds of the flock are told to howl and wallow.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Jeremiah — Jeremiah overview

A. 1–14 Twenty-Three Years of Warning; Seventy Years in Babylon
B. 15–29 The Wine Cup of Fury Passed Among the Nations
C. 30–38 The LORD Roars from on High; No Way to Flee for the Shepherds

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Jeremiah 255 verses
- Jeremiah 25:3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
- Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 25:16And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
- Jeremiah 25:20all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
- Jeremiah 25:28If 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!
- Read Jeremiah 25 →
Jeremiah 515 verses
- Jeremiah 51:6Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
- Jeremiah 51:7Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Jeremiah 51:28Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule.
- Jeremiah 51:39While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 51:41How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
- Read Jeremiah 51 →
Jeremiah 14 verses
- Jeremiah 1:2The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
- Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- Jeremiah 1:10See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
- Jeremiah 1:15For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.
- Read Jeremiah 1 →
Jeremiah 463 verses
- Jeremiah 46:1This is the word of the LORD about the nations—the word that came to Jeremiah the prophet
- Jeremiah 46:2concerning Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah:
- Jeremiah 46:13This is the word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
- Read Jeremiah 46 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Jeremiah 73 verses
- Jeremiah 7:6if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,
- Jeremiah 7:7then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
- Jeremiah 7:34I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
- Read Jeremiah 7 →
Jeremiah 42 verses
- Jeremiah 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- Jeremiah 4:8So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
- Read Jeremiah 4 →
Jeremiah 182 verses
- Jeremiah 18:11Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’
- Jeremiah 18:16They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Read Jeremiah 18 →
Isaiah 132 verses
- Isaiah 13:3I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Isaiah 13:19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Read Isaiah 13 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.