1 The word {davar: prophetic announcement} that was 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 Nebuchadretsar {nebuchadretsar: mighty conqueror} king of Babylon.
2 Which Jeremiah the prophet {hanavi: divinely appointed spokesman} spoke concerning all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants {yoshvei: residential community} of Jerusalem, saying,
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon and king of Judah, and until this day—these twenty-three years—the word of the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Speaker} has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early {ashkeim: with diligence} and speaking, but you have not listened.
4 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Lord} sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you did not listen {shematem: attentive hearing}, nor did you incline your ears to hear.
5 Saying, “Return now, each of you, from your evil way {derekh: moral conduct} and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the LORD {YHWH, Promise Keeper} has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and forever.”
6 And do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me {YHWH, Righteous Judge} with the deeds {ma’aseh: intentional acts} of your hands; then I will not bring disaster upon you.
7 But you have not listened to Me, declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, so that you provoke Me to anger by the works of your hands, to your own harm {leraʿ: calamity}.
8 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies}: Because you have not listened to my words {devarai: instructions},
9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, declares the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge}, and I will summon Nebuchadretsar king of Babylon, my servant, and bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a desolation {shammah: utter devastation}, a hissing, and perpetual ruins.
10 And I {YHWH, Judgment Executor} will remove from them the voice of rejoicing {sason: jubilation}, 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.
11 And this whole land will become a ruin and a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon {Bavel: ancient Mesopotamian empire} for seventy years {shanah: complete periods}.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years have been fulfilled, I will visit {paqad: act in judgment} upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation—declares the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Judge}—their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make everlasting desolations.
13 And I {YHWH, Judgment Executor} will bring upon that land all My words {devarai: utterances} which I have spoken against it, even all that is written in this book that Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings will also make them serve, and I {YHWH, Divine Judge} will recompense them according to their deeds {maaseh: actions} and according to the work of their hands.
15 For thus said the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisra'el, Judge of Nations} to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath {kos ha-yayin ha-chemah: vessel of judgment} from My hand and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it."
16 And they will drink, and they will stagger {hitgoʿashu: reel violently}, and they will act as madmen because of the sword which I {anochi: emphatic self-reference} am sending among them.
17 And I took the cup from the hand of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, and I made all the nations drink {shaqah: to cause to drink}, to whom the LORD had sent me.
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes {sareha: royal officials}—make them a ruin, a desolation {shammah: complete ruin}, a hissing, and a curse as on this day.
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials {sarav: chief rulers}, and all his people {ammo: national community}.
20 And all the mixed people {ha-erev: mingled ethnic groups}, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod {she’erit: surviving portion}.
21 Edom {edom: red region}, Moab, and the sons {benei: Ammon’s descendants} of Ammon.
22 And all the kings {malkei: sovereign rulers} of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the island who are across the sea {yam: Mediterranean}.
23 Dedan, Tema {tema: desert oasis}, Buz, and all who are cut off {ketzutzei: trimmed edges} at the corners of their hair.
24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people {ha-erev: mingled group} who dwell in the wilderness {midbar: arid region}.
25 And all the kings of Zimri {Zimri: southwestern Mesopotamian territory}, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media {Madai: ancient kingdom east of Mesopotamia}.
26 And all the kings of the north, the near and the far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground{adamah: physical land}. And the king of Sheshach{sheshakh: cipher for Babylon} will drink after them.
27 And you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies}, the God of Israel {Elohei Yisrael, National Protector}: Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and do not rise because of the sword which I am sending among you.”
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup {kos: judgment cup} from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Divine Commander}: You will surely drink!”
29 For behold, in the city that is called by My name, I am beginning to bring evil {hara: calamity, judgment}; and you, shall you by any means be acquitted? You shall not be acquitted, for I am calling the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tzvaot, Divine Warrior}.
30 And you shall prophesy to them all these words and say to them, “The LORD {YHWH, Universal Judge} will roar from on high, and from His holy abode {kodsho: sacred dwelling} He will give His voice; roaring He will roar over His habitation. With a shout, like those who tread grapes, He will cry out against all the inhabitants of the earth.”
31 A noise has come to the ends of the earth, for the LORD {YHWH, Universal Judge} has a dispute {riv: legal contention} among the nations—He is judging all flesh; the wicked He has given to the sword, declares the LORD.
32 Thus says the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tseva’ot, Commander of Armies}, “Behold, disaster is going forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind {sa’ar: violent storm} will be stirred up from the farthest reaches of the earth.”
33 And the slain of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} shall be on that day from one end of the earth to the other; they shall not be lamented {yissafdu: mourned with ritual wailing}, nor gathered, nor buried; they shall be like dung upon the face of the ground.
34 Wail {heililu: ritual lamentation}, shepherds, and cry out; and roll about, mighty ones of the flock, for your days have been fulfilled for slaughter and for your scatterings {utefotzototeikhem: forced exiles}, and you shall fall like a precious vessel.
35 The shepherds will have no escape {manos: place of refuge}, and the mighty ones of the flock will have no deliverance {feleitah: assured survival}.
36 A voice—the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the mighty ones of the flock—because the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge} is laying waste their pasture {mar'itam: grazing land}.
37 And the peaceful dwellings{ne’ot: settled homesteads} are devastated because of the burning anger of the LORD{YHWH, Divine Judge}.
38 He has left his lair like a young lion; for their land has become a desolation because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of His {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} anger {appo: burning wrath}.