You Can Read the Bible

Today’s stories follow no defined timeline, but at least they are clearly marked. The first, in chapter 25, comes in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, about 605 B.C. More critically, it is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Jeremiah warns Jehoiakim that the LORD will bring Nebuchadnezzar – whom the LORD calls “my servant” – against this land and its inhabitants… and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Unfortunately, we know that Jehoiakim did not heed Jeremiah’s warning.

At the beginning of chapter 26, Jeremiah recalls events from four years earlier, at the beginning of Jehhoiakim’s reign. Judah was a vassal of Egypt at the time, and Jeremiah was sent to warn the king and his court that it is neither Egypt, nor Babylon, that they should fear: “Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law… and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets… then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.”

The final chapter moves forward a dozen years. Judah is now subject to Babylon, and Zedekiah is enthroned as Nebuchadnezzar’s puppet. It smells like there’s a conspiracy afoot among the rulers in the region to buck Babylon’s power. Jeremiah warns against this. In fact, the LORD has ordained Babylon’s position: “Now I have given these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant…” The LORD promises to punish any nation that will not serve Babylon, and to spare the nations that do.

Listen for common threads throughout today’s reading. Prophets, good and bad, are a repeated subject. So is the stubbornness of Judah’s rulers. Notice where and to whom Jeremiah makes his proclamations, and consider the trouble it gets him in. Finally, and significantly, notice the LORD’s sovereign control over the story. If Judah ascends, it is because of the LORD’s hand; if Babylon ascends, it is likewise because of the LORD’s hand.

Our verse for this week is Hebrews 8:10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 25 through 27. Now let’s read it!

Jeremiah 25 - 27

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 (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Jehovah's word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. Jehovah has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), saying, "Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. Don't go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don't provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm." "Yet you have not listened to me," says Jehovah, "that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt." Therefore Jehovah of Armies says: "Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north," says Jehovah, "and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 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 lamp. This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. "It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation," says Jehovah, "for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever. I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands." For Jehovah, the God of Israel, says to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink, and reel back and forth, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me: Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes, and all his people; and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them. "You shall tell them, 'Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel says: "Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."' It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, 'Jehovah of Armies says: "You shall surely drink. For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of Armies."' "Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them, "'Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,"' says Jehovah." Jehovah of Armies says, "Behold, evil will go out from nation to nation, and a great storm will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth." The slain of Jehovah will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They won't be lamented. They won't be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground. Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery. The shepherds will have no way to flee. The leader of the flock will have no escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leader of the flock, for Jehovah destroys their pasture. The peaceful folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of his fierce anger. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Jehovah: "Jehovah says: 'Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don't omit a word. It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way, that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.'" You shall tell them, "Jehovah says: 'If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you, to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them--but you have not listened-- then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.'" The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Jehovah's house. When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "You shall surely die! Why have you prophesied in Jehovah's name, saying, 'This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant'?" All the people were crowded around Jeremiah in Jehovah's house. When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to Jehovah's house; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house. Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, "This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears." Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, "Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey Jehovah your God's voice; then Jehovah will relent from the evil that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth Jehovah has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears." Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: "This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God." Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, "Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Jehovah of Armies says: "'Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.' Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn't he fear Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah, and Jehovah relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great evil against our own souls that way!" There was also a man who prophesied in Jehovah's name, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. When Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt. Then Jehoiakim the king sent Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt. They fetched Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they didn't give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Jehovah says to me: "Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck. Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them a command to their masters, saying, 'Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel says, "You shall tell your masters: 'I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him. All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant. "'"'It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,' says Jehovah, 'with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. But as for you, don't listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, "You shall not serve the king of Babylon;" for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish. But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remain in their own land,' says Jehovah; 'and they will till it and dwell in it.'"'" I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Don't listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon;' for they prophesy a lie to you. For I have not sent them," says Jehovah, "but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you." Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Jehovah says, "Don't listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, 'Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon;' for they prophesy a lie to you. Don't listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation? But if they are prophets, and if Jehovah's word is with them, let them now make intercession to Jehovah of Armies, that the vessels which are left in Jehovah's house, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don't go to Babylon. For Jehovah of Armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn't take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem-- yes, Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in Jehovah's house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: 'They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them,' says Jehovah; 'then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.'"

You Can Read the Bible

Gn

Genesis

Ex

Exodus

Lv

Leviticus

Nm

Numbers

Dt

Deuteronomy

Jo

Joshua

Jg

Judges

Ru

Ruth

1Sm

1 Samuel

2Sm

2 Samuel

1Kg

1 Kings

2Kg

2 Kings

1Ch

1 Chronicles

2Ch

2 Chronicles

Er

Ezra

Ne

Nehemiah

Es

Esther

Jb

Job

Ps

Psalms

Pr

Proverbs

Ec

Ecclesiastes

Sg

Song of Songs

Is

Isaiah

Je

Jeremiah

Lm

Lamentations

Ez

Ezekiel

Dn

Daniel

Hs

Hosea

Jl

Joel

Am

Amos

Ob

Obadiah

Jo

Jonah

Mi

Micah

Na

Nahum

Hb

Habakkuk

Zp

Zephaniah

Hg

Haggai

Zc

Zechariah

Mc

Malachi

Mt