Yirmeyah 25:17-28

17 Then took I the Kos from the yad Hashem, and made all the Goyim to drink, unto whom Hashem had sent me;

18 Namely, Yerushalayim, and the towns of Yehudah, and the melachim thereof, and the sarim thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a kelalah (curse); as it is this day;

19 Pharaoh Melech Mitzrayim, and his avadim, and his sarim and all his people;

20 And all the mixed multitude rabble, and kol melachim of Eretz Utz, and kol melachim of Eretz Pelishtim, and Ashkelon, and Azzah (Gaza), and Ekron, and the she’erit (remnant) of Ashdod,

21 Edom, and Moav, and the Bnei Ammon,

22 And kol melachim of Tzor, and kol melachim of Tzidon, and the melachim of the coastlands which are beyond the yam,

23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost [desert] fringes,

24 And kol melachim of Arabia, and kol melachim of the mixed multitude rabble that dwell in the desert,

25 And kol melachim of Zimri, and kol melachim of Eilam, and kol melachim of the Medes,

26 And kol melachim of the tzafon, far and near, one after another, and all the mamlechot ha’aretz, which are upon the face of adamah; and Melech Sheshach [Babylon] shall drink after them.

27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel; Drink ye, and become shikkor, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the cherev which I will send among you.

28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the Kos at thine yad to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, Ye shall certainly drink.

Yirmeyah 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.