Jeremiah 25:12-38

Babylon Will Be Judged

12 'Then it will be ¹when seventy years are completed I will ²punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ³I will make it an everlasting desolation.

13 'I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in ⁴this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against ⁵all the nations.

14 '(For ⁶many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will ⁷recompense them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)' "

15 For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this ⁸cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

16 "They will ⁹drink and stagger and go mad because * of the sword that I will send among them."

17 Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand and ¹⁰made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:

18 ¹¹Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day;

19 ¹²Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people;

20 and all the ¹³foreign people, all the kings of the ¹⁴land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the ¹⁵Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of ¹⁶Ashdod );

21 ¹⁷Edom, ¹⁸Moab and the sons of ¹⁹Ammon;

22 and all the kings of ²⁰Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of ²¹the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

23 and ²²Dedan, Tema, ²³Buz and all who ²⁴cut the corners of their hair;

24 and all the kings of ²⁵Arabia and all the kings of the ²⁶foreign people who dwell in the desert;

25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of ²⁷Elam and all the kings of ²⁸Media;

26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and ²⁹all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of ³⁰Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 "You shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "³¹Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because * of the ³²sword which I will send among you."'

28 "And it will be, if they ³³refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "³⁴You shall surely drink!

29 "For behold, I am ³⁵beginning to work calamity in this city which is ³⁶called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for ³⁷I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," declares the LORD of hosts.'

30 "Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, 'The ³⁸LORD will ³⁹roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 'A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has ⁴⁰a controversy with the nations. He is entering into ⁴¹judgment with all flesh; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' declares the LORD."

32 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, evil is going forth From ⁴²nation to nation, And a great ⁴³storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth.

33 "Those ⁴⁴slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other *. They will ⁴⁵not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like ⁴⁶dung on the face of the ground.

34 "Wail, you shepherds, and cry; And ⁴⁷wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock; For the days of your ⁴⁸slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a choice vessel.

35 "⁴⁹Flight will perish from the shepherds, And escape from the masters of the flock.

36 "Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

37 "And the peaceful ⁵⁰folds are made silent Because * of the ⁵¹fierce anger of the LORD.

38 "He has left His hiding place ⁵²like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because * of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because * of His fierce anger."

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Jeremiah 25:12-38 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 52

1. Ezra 1:1; Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:2
2. Isaiah 13:14; Jeremiah 50, 51
3. Isaiah 13:19
4. Jer 36:4, 29, 32
5. Jeremiah 1:5, 10; Jeremiah 36:2
6. Jeremiah 27:7; Jeremiah 50:9, 41; Jeremiah 51:27, 28
7. Jer 51:6, 24, 56
8. Job 21:20; Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 51:7
9. Nahum 3:11
10. Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 25:28
11. Psalms 60:3; Isaiah 51:17
12. Jeremiah 46:2-28; Nahum 3:8-10
13. Jeremiah 25:24; Jeremiah 50:37; Ezekiel 30:5
14. Job 1:1; Lamentations 4:21
15. Jeremiah 47:1-7
16. Isaiah 20:1
17. Psalms 137:7; Jeremiah 49:7-22
18. Jeremiah 48:1-47; Amos 2:1-3
19. Jeremiah 49:1-6; Amos 1:13-15
20. Jeremiah 47:4; Zechariah 9:2-4
21. Jeremiah 31:10
22. Isaiah 21:13; Jeremiah 49:7, 8
23. Genesis 22:21
24. Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 49:32
25. 2 Chronicles 9:14
26. Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 50:37; Ezekiel 30:5
27. Genesis 10:22; Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 49:34
28. Isaiah 13:17; Jeremiah 51:11, 28
29. Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 50:9
30. Jeremiah 51:41
31. Jeremiah 25:16; Habakkuk 2:16
32. Ezekiel 21:4, 5
33. Job 34:33
34. Jeremiah 49:12
35. Proverbs 11:31; Isaiah 10:12; Jeremiah 13:13; Ezekiel 9:6; 1 Peter 4:17
36. 1 Kings 8:43
37. Ezekiel 38:21
38. Isaiah 42:13; Jeremiah 25:38
39. Joel 2:11; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2
40. Hosea 4:1; Micah 6:2
41. Isaiah 66:16; Ezekiel 20:35, 36; Joel 3:2
42. 2 Chronicles 15:6; Isaiah 34:2
43. Isaiah 30:30; Jeremiah 23:19
44. Isaiah 34:2, 3; Isaiah 66:16
45. Psalms 79:3; Jeremiah 16:4; Ezekiel 39:4, 17
46. Isaiah 5:25
47. Jeremiah 6:26; Ezekiel 27:30
48. Isaiah 34:6, 7; Jeremiah 50:27
49. Job 11:20; Jeremiah 11:11; Amos 2:14
50. Isaiah 27:10, 11; Jeremiah 5:17; Jeremiah 13:20
51. Psalms 97:1-3; Isaiah 66:15; Hebrews 12:29
52. Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 5:14; Hosea 13:7, 8

Footnotes 9

[a]. Or "For they have served many nations and great kings"
[b]. Or "mixed multitude"
[c]. Or "mixed multitude"
[d]. Cryptic name for Babylon
[e]. Or "pasture"
[f]. Lit "other end of the earth"
[g]. Lit "are full"
[h]. Or "pastures"
[i]. Or "oppressor"