The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
"From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this [is] the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.
"They said, 'Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
'behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
'Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
' Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the LORD; 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
'So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
'(For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)' "
all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);
all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which [are] on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
" Therefore you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you." '
"And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "You shall certainly drink!
"For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'
" Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: 'The LORD will roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread [the grapes,] Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
A noise will come to the ends of the earth -- For the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those [who are] wicked to the sword,' says the LORD."
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth.
"And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
" Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about [in the ashes,] You leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; You shall fall like a precious vessel.