New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his reign.
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This is the Message given to Jeremiah for all the people of Judah. It came in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
2 Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
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Jeremiah the prophet delivered the Message to all the people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem:
3 “For the past twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now—the LORD has been giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you have not listened.
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From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah right up to the present day - twenty-three years it's been! - God's Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I've passed it on to you. And you haven't listened to a word of it!
4 “Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention.
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Not only that, but God also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened.
5 Each time the message was this: ‘Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors forever.
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They told you, "Turn back - right now, each one of you! - from your evil way of life and bad behavior, and live in the land God gave you and your ancestors, the land he intended to give you forever.
6 Do not provoke my anger by worshiping idols you made with your own hands. Then I will not harm you.’
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Don't follow the god-fads of the day, taking up and worshiping these no-gods. Don't make me angry with your god-businesses, making and selling gods - a dangerous business!
7 “But you would not listen to me,” says the LORD . “You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer.
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"You refused to listen to any of this, and now I am really angry. These god-making businesses of yours are your doom."
8 And now the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Because you have not listened to me,
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The verdict of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on all this: "Because you have refused to listen to what I've said,
9 I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever.
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I'm stepping in. I'm sending for the armies out of the north headed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant in this, and I'm setting them on this land and people and even the surrounding countries. I'm devoting the whole works to total destruction - a horror to top all the horrors in history.
10 I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your millstones will fall silent, and the lights in your homes will go out.
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And I'll banish every sound of joy - singing, laughter, marriage festivities, genial workmen, candlelit suppers.
11 This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
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The whole landscape will be one vast wasteland. These countries will be in subjection to the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 “Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the LORD . “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever.
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"Once the seventy years is up, I'll punish the king of Babylon and the whole nation of Babylon for their sin. Then they'll be the wasteland.
13 I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book—all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.
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Everything that I said I'd do to that country, I'll do - everything that's written in this book, everything Jeremiah preached against all the godless nations.
14 Many nations and great kings will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my people.”
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Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the Babylonians, paying them back for everything they've done to others. They won't get by with anything." God's Decree. God Puts the Human Race on Trial
15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
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This is a Message that the God of Israel gave me: "Take this cup filled with the wine of my wrath that I'm handing to you. Make all the nations where I send you drink it down.
16 When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them.”
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They'll drink it and get drunk, staggering in delirium because of the killing that I'm going to unleash among them."
17 So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the nations drink from it—every nation to which the LORD sent me.
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I took the cup from God's hand and made them drink it, all the nations to which he sent me:
18 I went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and cursing.
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Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, along with their kings and leaders, turning them into a vast wasteland, a horror to look at, a cussword - which, in fact, they now are;
19 I gave the cup to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials, and all his people,
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Pharaoh king of Egypt with his attendants and leaders,
20 along with all the foreigners living in that land. I also gave it to all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod.
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plus all his people and the melting pot of foreigners collected there; All the kings of Uz; All the kings of the Philistines from Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what's left of Ashdod;
21 Then I gave the cup to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon,
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Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;
22 and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea.
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All the kings of Tyre, Sidon, and the coastlands across the sea;
23 I gave it to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who live in distant places.
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Dedan, Tema, Buz, and the nomads on the fringe of the desert;
24 I gave it to the kings of Arabia, the kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert,
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All the kings of Arabia and the various Bedouin sheiks and chieftains wandering about in the desert;
25 and to the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media.
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All the kings of Zimri, Elam, and the Medes;
26 And I gave it to the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other—all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from the cup of the LORD ’s anger.
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All the kings from the north countries near and far, one by one; All the kingdoms on planet Earth... And the king of Sheshak (that is, Babylon) will be the last to drink.
27 Then the LORD said to me, “Now tell them, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get drunk and vomit; fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars against you.’
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"Tell them, 'These are orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: Drink and get drunk and vomit. Fall on your faces and don't get up again. You're slated for a massacre.'
28 And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, ‘The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: You have no choice but to drink from it.
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"If any of them refuse to take the cup from you and drink it, say to them, 'God-of-the-Angel-Armies has ordered you to drink. So drink!
29 I have begun to punish Jerusalem, the city that bears my name. Now should I let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!’
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"'Prepare for the worst! I'm starting off the catastrophe in the city that I claim as my own, so don't think you are going to get out of it. No, you're not getting out of anything. It's the sword and nothing but the sword against everyone everywhere!'" The God-of-the-Angel-Armies' Decree.
30 “Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, “‘The LORD will roar against his own land from his holy dwelling in heaven. He will shout like those who tread grapes; he will shout against everyone on earth.
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"Preach it all, Jeremiah. Preach the entire Message to them. Say: "'God roars like a lion from high heaven; thunder rolls out from his holy dwelling - Ear-splitting bellows against his people, shouting hurrahs like workers in harvest.
31 His cry of judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with the sword. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”
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The noise reverberates all over the earth; everyone everywhere hears it. God makes his case against the godless nations. He's about to put the human race on trial. For the wicked the verdict is clear-cut: death by the sword.'" God's Decree.
32 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Look! Disaster will fall upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising from the most distant corners of the earth!”
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A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: "Prepare for the worst! Doomsday! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation. A huge storm is about to rage all across planet Earth."
33 In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.
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Laid end to end, those killed in God's judgment that day will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. No tears will be shed and no burials conducted. The bodies will be left where they fall, like so much horse dung fertilizing the fields.
34 Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you will fall and shatter like a fragile vase.
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Wail, shepherds! Cry out for help! Grovel in the dirt, you masters of flocks! Time's up - you're slated for the slaughterhouse, like a choice ram with its throat cut.
35 You will find no place to hide; there will be no way to escape.
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There's no way out for the rulers, no escape for those shepherds.
36 Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds. The leaders of the flock are wailing in despair, for the LORD is ruining their pastures.
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Hear that? Rulers crying for help, shepherds of the flock wailing! God is about to ravage their fine pastures.
37 Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by the LORD ’s fierce anger.
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The peaceful sheepfolds will be silent with death, silenced by God's deadly anger.
38 He has left his den like a strong lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD ’s fierce anger.
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God will come out into the open like a lion leaping from its cover, And the country will be torn to pieces, ripped and ravaged by his anger.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.