Jeremiah 25:17-28

17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink [from it], everyone the Lord sent me to.

18 [These included:] Jerusalem and the [other] cities of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an object of scorn and cursing^[a]-as it is today;

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officers, his leaders, all his people,

20 and all the mixed peoples;^[b] all the kings of the land of Uz;^[c] all the kings of the land of the Philistines-Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all those who shave their temples;^[d]

24 all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who have settled in the desert;

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

26 all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another; that is, all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Finally, the king of Sheshach^[e] will drink after them.

27 "Then you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.

28 If^[f] they refuse to take the cup from you and drink, you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: You must drink!

Jeremiah 25:17-28 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

• [a] Jr 25:9
• [b] Jr 50:37; Ex 12:38; Neh 13:1-3
• [c] Jb 1:1; Lm 4:21
• [d] Or who live in distant places; Jr 9:26; 49:32; Lv 19:27
• [e] Probably a code name for Babylon
• [f] Or When