Jeremiah 25:18

18 Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse - as they still do.

Jeremiah 25:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 25:18

[To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah
Which are mentioned first, because God's judgments began with them, as they usually do with the house of God, ( 1 Peter 4:17 ) ; and even now began; for this very year, in which this prophecy was delivered, Nebuchadnezzar came up and besieged Jerusalem, and carried away some captives, ( Daniel 1:1 ) ; this was the beginning of what afterwards were more fully executed: and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof:
the Kings Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, with those of their families, the princes of the blood, and their nobles: to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse;
to strip them of their crowns and kingdom, of their wealth, and riches, and honour, and bring them into slavery and bondage; so that they became an astonishment to some, to see the change that was made in them; and were hissed stand cursed by others: (as [it is] this day);
which is added, either because of the certainty of it, or because it began to take, place this very year; though more fully in Jeconiah's time, and still more in Zedekiah's; or rather this clause might be added by Jeremiah after the captivity; or by Baruch, or by Ezra, or whoever collected his prophecies, and put them into one volume, as ( Jeremiah 52:1-34 ) seems to be added by another hand.

Jeremiah 25:18 In-Context

16 When they drink from it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the war I am sending against them."

17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me, and made them drink from it.

18 Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse - as they still do.

19 Here is the list of all the others who had to drink from the cup: the king of Egypt, his officials and leaders; all the Egyptians and all the foreigners in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod; all the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; all the kings of the Mediterranean lands; the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz; all the people who cut their hair short; all the kings of Arabia; all the kings of the desert tribes; all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another. Every nation on the face of the earth had to drink from it. Last of all, the king of Babylonia will drink from it.