Jeremiah 25:1-12

Seventy Years of Captivity

1 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem:

3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

4 And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention.

5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever.

6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”

7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”

8 Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words,

9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy^[a] them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.

10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,^[b] for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever.

Jeremiah 25:1-12 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.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Kings 24:2; Jeremiah 36:1
• 2. S 2 Kings 24:1
• 3. Jeremiah 18:11
• 4. S 1 Chronicles 3:14; Jeremiah 1:2
• 5. Jeremiah 11:7; Jeremiah 26:5
• 6. S Isaiah 65:12; S Jeremiah 7:26
• 7. Jeremiah 6:17; S Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 29:19
• 8. S Jeremiah 7:26; Jeremiah 34:14; Jeremiah 44:5
• 9. S Judges 6:8; S 2 Chronicles 7:14; S 2 Chronicles 30:9; S Jeremiah 23:22
• 10. S Genesis 12:7; S Deuteronomy 4:40
• 11. S Exodus 20:3; S Deuteronomy 8:19
• 12. Jeremiah 30:14; Jeremiah 32:35; Jeremiah 44:5
• 13. Deuteronomy 32:21
• 14. 2 Kings 17:20; 2 Kings 21:15
• 15. Isaiah 13:3-5
• 16. S Isaiah 14:31; Jeremiah 1:15
• 17. S Isaiah 41:2; Jeremiah 27:6
• 18. S 2 Chronicles 36:6
• 19. S Numbers 21:2
• 20. S 2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 18:16
• 21. S Jeremiah 19:8; S Jeremiah 20:4; Ezekiel 12:20
• 22. S Isaiah 24:8; Ezekiel 26:13
• 23. Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 33:11
• 24. Ecclesiastes 12:3-4
• 25. S Job 18:5; Lamentations 5:15; Revelation 18:22-23
• 26. S Leviticus 26:31,32; Jeremiah 4:26-27; Jeremiah 12:11-12
• 27. Jeremiah 28:14
• 28. S 2 Chronicles 36:21
• 29. Jeremiah 27:7; Jeremiah 29:10
• 30. S Genesis 10:10; S Psalms 137:8
• 31. S Isaiah 13:19-22; Isaiah 14:22-23

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
• [b]. Or "Chaldeans"