Jeremiah 25:1-38
1 The 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 Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punisha the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
17 Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the islesb which are beyond the sea,
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the daysc of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
35 And the shepherdsd shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolatee because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.
Jeremiah 25:1. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the first year of Nebuchadrezzar. Daniel says the third year, Daniel 1:1. The campaign could not be less than a year; the variation arises from the periods of calculation. Dean Prideaux, with great care places the fall of Nineveh in the twenty ninth year of Josiah, and that Nebuchadrezzar, then a martial prince, joined his forces to those of the Medes in the overthrow of that city. He served under his father about five years, till this expedition against the nations of Syria. This reckoning anticipates the computation of Ptolemy's canon by two years, which two years Nebuchadrezzar reigned with his father. According to this account, the scriptures reckon his reign to continue five and forty years. See the notes on Jeremiah 52:31. According to the common computation it lasted but forty three. But Daniel 2:1, writing in Chaldee, follows the computation in use among the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah 25:3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year. For Jeremiah prophesied nineteen years under Josiah, who reigned thirty one years, and this was the beginning of Jehoiakim's fourth year.
Jeremiah 25:9. Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon my servant. Kings and princes are the great instruments of providence with respect to human affairs. Some of them God raises up to be executioners of his judgments upon a sinful people. Such was Saul, of whom the Lord said, I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:11. Such was Nebuchadrezzar here spoken of, whom God calls his servant, because he wrought for him, and executed his judgments upon Tyre. Ezekiel 19:20. Providence made use of his ambition and desire of conquest, and prospered his arms, in order to punish the neighbouring nations for their sins. See a like instance in the king of Assyria, whom God calls the rod of his anger. Isaiah 10:5. And in later times, Attila the Hun called himself Flagellum Dei, the Scourge of God, ordained to punish that corruption of manners which had overrun christendom in the western part of the Roman empire.
Perpetual desolations. It is a common observation, that the Hebrew word ô lam does not always signify eternity, or perpetuity in a strict sense, but is sometimes taken for such a duration as had a remarkable period to conclude it. Thus it was said of a servant, that he shall serve his master for ever, Exodus 21:6; which the Jews expound as meaning, till the next jubilee. So here the sense of the word is to be restrained to the period of seventy years, mentioned Jeremiah 25:11.
Jeremiah 25:11. These nations shall serve the king of Babylon. That is, Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. The word king is elsewhere used collectively for a succession of kings in the same family or kingdom. See the note on Isaiah 24:14.
Seventy years. This computation of seventy years captivity, is to be reckoned from the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, which is coincident with the third ending, and the fourth beginning of Jehoiakim, see Jeremiah 25:1, when the king of Babylon made his first attempt upon Judea. Daniel 1:1. From which time to the first year of Cyrus's reign over the Assyrian monarchy, is just seventy years. Whereas the prophet Zechariah 1:12, who reckons the seventy years captivity completed in the second year of Darius, commences his computation from the besieging of the city; and when he prolongs his computation to the fourth year of Darius, he dates it from the destruction of the city and temple: chap. 7:1-5.
Jeremiah 25:12. When seventy years are accomplished, I will punish the king of Babylon. These years are reckoned from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Daniel, with many other Jews, and their nobles were led into captivity. Daniel 1:1. Others reckon from the eleventh year of Zedekiah, according to 2 Chronicles 36:11; 2 Chronicles 36:20. But the land enjoying her sabbaths does not precisely supersede the former calculation. A third opinion is, that the seventy years should be reckoned from the captivity of Jeconiah, according to Jeremiah 22:24. Ezekiel fairly reckons the captivity as begun fourteen years before Jerusalem was destroyed, Ezekiel 40:1; and as this prophet mentions twelve years, the captivity must be reckoned one year prior to Zedekiah, who reigned but eleven years.
Jeremiah 25:14. Many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also. Those kings and nations who were Cyrus's confederates. See Jeremiah 1:2; Jeremiah 41; Jeremiah 51:17.
Jeremiah 25:15. Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. God's judgments are metaphorically represented by a cup of intoxicating liquors, because they fill men with astonishment, and bereave them of their common judgment and discretion. See the note on Isaiah 51:17. Compare Psalms 75:8; Jeremiah 48:26; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:31; Zechariah 2:16; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 16:19. In the two last passages St John plainly alludes to this place, and expresses the sense of the original more fully and exactly than the Septuagint do. See the note upon Jeremiah 25:10.
Jeremiah 25:17. Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink. The words, in pursuance of the same metaphor, import the prophet's obeying God's command, and denouncing his judgments upon all the several nations hereafter mentioned: compare Jeremiah 25:28. The prophets are said to do that which they declare it is God's purpose to do: see the note on Jeremiah 10:1. If we explain the words more strictly to the letter, we may suppose the cup of God's wrath represented to the prophet in a vision, as mystical Babylon was represented to St. John, with a golden cup in her hand, Revelation 17:4, which he was commanded to hand round to the nations here specified.
Jeremiah 25:20. All the kings of the land of the Philistines. The Philistines had five lords over their several divisions. See 1 Samuel 6:6 1 Samuel 6:6, and the foregoing note. Each division had their particular prince or governor. See Numbers 31:8. This custom is still observed in the more rude and barbarous parts of the world. These prophecies against twenty kings and rulers were all strikingly fulfilled by the Assyrian armies under Nebuchadnezzar. They were an overflowing scourge to all the nations of the west.
Azzah, a noted city of the Philistines, commonly rendered Gaza, according to the Greek pronunciation, which usually expresses the Hebrew letter ain by a gamma.
The remnant of Ashdod. Ashdod or Azotus was first besieged and taken by Tartan, according to the prophecy of Isaiah 20:1. It was afterwards taken by Psammiticus, according to Herodotus, lib. 2. cap. 157. They so far ruined it, and impaired its ancient greatness, that it is here called “the remnant,” or poor remains of Ashdod.
Jeremiah 25:22. The kings of the isles beyond the sea. Or rather, the region by the sea side, as the words are translated in the margin of our bibles, for so the word beneber signifies. The phrase designates the nations living upon the coast of the Mediterranean sea.
Jeremiah 25:23. Dedan was built, it would seem, by Dedan, son of Ishmael. Genesis 25:3. Tema, the same, Jeremiah 25:15. Buz, by Buz, the brother of Uz. Genesis 22:21; Job 32:2.
Jeremiah 25:26. The king of Sheshach shall drink after them. By Sheshach is meant Babylon, as appears by comparing chap. 51. Some think Sac was the name of an idol worshipped there, from whence the Hebrew name Misael was changed by the Chaldeans into Meshach. This idol gave the name of Saccthea to a public festival celebrated at Babylon, and mentioned by Autheneus, lib. 14. cap. 10. St. Jerome mentions upon the place a sort of cypher commonly used, which consisted in putting the last letter of the alphabet first, and so writing on. By this inverted order of the Hebrew letters, Sheshach is equivalent to Babel. The prophets sometimes express the places they prophesy against by dark circumlocutions. So Babylon is called the desert of the sea. Isaiah 21:1. Jerusalem the valley of vision. Isaiah 21:1. The Roman empire is expressed by that which with- holdeth. 2 Thessalonians 2:6. And some commentators suppose the names mentioned in Micah 1:10, to be the names of noted places in Judea, disguised and altered from their true sound.
Jeremiah 25:27. Drink ye, and be drunken. See Jeremiah 25:16. The imperative is here put for the future. See the like figure in Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 6:9; Isaiah 23:16.
Jeremiah 25:28. If they refuse to take the cup at thine hand. If they either do not believe thy threatenings, or else disregard them, as thinking themselves sufficiently provided against any hostile invasion, you shall let them know that the judgments denounced against them are God's irreversible decree.
Jeremiah 25:29. For lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name; and should ye be utterly unpunished? Judgment often begins at the house of God, for the correction of his people, and to be a warning to others: but the heaviest strokes of it are reserved for the ungodly. Compare 1 Peter 4:17 1 Peter 4:17; Luke 23:31.
Jeremiah 25:30. The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. God speaks by his judgments, and when they are very terrible, they may fitly be compared to the roaring of a lion, which strikes a consternation into those that hear it. Compare Amos 1:2; Amos 3:8; Joel 2:11; Joel 3:16.
Jeremiah 25:38. The fierceness of the oppressor. יונה jovonah, feminine of dove. Though it generally denotes oppression, yet some contend, that as mythology transformed Semiramis into a dove, the Assyrians carried a dove on their ensigns. Her reign was that of a falcon; happy if she became a dove at last.