Jeremiah 25:6-9

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.

Jeremiah 25:6-9 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 Exodus 20:3; S Deuteronomy 8:19
• 2. Jeremiah 30:14; Jeremiah 32:35; Jeremiah 44:5
• 3. Deuteronomy 32:21
• 4. 2 Kings 17:20; 2 Kings 21:15
• 5. Isaiah 13:3-5
• 6. S Isaiah 14:31; Jeremiah 1:15
• 7. S Isaiah 41:2; Jeremiah 27:6
• 8. S 2 Chronicles 36:6
• 9. S Numbers 21:2
• 10. S 2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 18:16
• 11. S Jeremiah 19:8; S Jeremiah 20:4; Ezekiel 12:20

Footnotes

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