Jeremiah 25:28-38

28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, then tell them that the Lord Almighty has said that they will still have to drink from it.

29 I will begin my work of destruction in my own city. Do they think they will go unpunished? No, they will be punished, for I am going to send war on all the people on earth. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.

30 "You, Jeremiah, must proclaim everything I have said. You must tell these people, "The Lord will roar from heaven and thunder from the heights of heaven. He will roar against his people; he will shout like a man treading grapes. Everyone on earth will hear him,

31 and the sound will echo to the ends of the earth. The Lord has a case against the nations. He will bring all people to trial and put the wicked to death. The Lord has spoken.' "

32 The Lord Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth.

33 On that day the bodies of those whom the Lord has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.

34 Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered, and you will be butchered like rams.

35 There will be no way for you to escape.

36 You moan and cry out in distress because the Lord in his anger has destroyed your nation and left your peaceful country in ruins.

38 The Lord has abandoned his people like a lion that leaves its cave. The horrors of war and the Lord's fierce anger have turned the country into a desert.

Jeremiah 25:28-38 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.

Footnotes

• [a] [Hebrew has an additional word, the meaning of which is unclear.]
• [b] [One ancient translation] rams; [Hebrew] vessels.
• [c] The Lord . . . people; [or] The Lord's people run away.