Jeremiah 25:9-19

9 look, I [am] going to send and take all [the] clans of [the] north,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and [I will send] to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and [an object of] hissing, and {everlasting ruins}.
10 And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, [the] voice of [the] bridegroom, and [the] voice of [the] bride, [the] sound of [the] millstones, and [the] light of [the] lamp.
11 And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

The Cup of Wrath

12 {And then} when [the] seventy years [are] fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, and [the] land of [the] Chaldeans, and I will make it {an everlasting waste}.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.'"
15 For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine [of] wrath from my hand, and you must give it [to] all the nations to whom I [am] sending you to drink.
16 And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the {presence} of the sword that I [am] sending among them."
17 So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave [it] [to] all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink:
18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, [and] its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an [object of] hissing, and a curse, as [it is] this day;
19 Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his officials, and all his people;

Jeremiah 25:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 25

This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of Judea by the king of Babylon; and also of Babylon itself, after the Jews' captivity of seventy years; and likewise of all the nations round about. The date of this prophecy is in Jer 25:1; when the prophet puts the Jews in mind of the prophecies that had been delivered unto them by himself and others, for some years past, without effect, Jer 25:2-7; wherefore they are threatened with the king of Babylon, that he should come against them, and strip them of all their desirable things; make their land desolate, and them captives for seventy years, Jer 25:8-11; at the expiration of which he in his turn shall be punished, and the land of Chaldea laid waste, and become subject to other nations and kings, Jer 25:12-14; and by a cup of wine given to all the nations round about, is signified the utter ruin of them, and who are particularly mentioned by name, Jer 25:15-26; which is confirmed by beginning with the city of Jerusalem, and the destruction of that, Jer 25:27-29; wherefore the prophet is bid to prophesy against them, and to declare the Lord's controversy with them, and that there should be a slaughter of them from one end of the earth to the other, Jer 25:30-33; upon which the shepherds, kings, and rulers of them, are called to lamentation and howling, Jer 25:34-38.

Footnotes 11

  • [a]. Or "families"
  • [b]. Literally "a declaration of"
  • [c]. Here the subject and verb are supplied from context in the English translation
  • [d]. Literally "sites of ruins of eternity"
  • [e]. Hebrew "year"
  • [f]. Literally "And it will happen"
  • [g]. Hebrew "year"
  • [h]. Literally "a declaration of"
  • [i]. Literally "a waste of eternity"
  • [j]. Literally "face"
  • [k]. Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.