The Anselm Project

Chapter 27

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ² Thus says the LORD to me: Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck. ³ You shall send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Zedekiah king of Judah from Jerusalem. ⁴ And you shall command them to their lords, saying, "Thus says the LORD of cosmic hosts, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to your lords." ⁵ I made the earth, Adam, and the beasts which are on the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it to whomever it is right in my eyes. ⁶ And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, my servant, and also the beasts of the field I have given to him to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him, and his son and his son's son, until the time of his land arrives; then many nations and great kings will serve him. ⁸ And it shall be, the nation and the kingdom that do not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and that do not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babel—with the sword and with famine and with pestilence I will appoint oversight upon that nation, utterance of the LORD, until I finish them off by his hand. ⁹ And you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your cloud-diviners, or your sorcerers who are saying to you, "Do not serve the king of Babel." ¹⁰ They are prophesying falsehood to you in order to remove you far from your ground/earth, and I will drive you away and you will perish. ¹¹ And the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave it on its ground—oracle of the LORD—and it will serve and dwell in it. ¹² And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke according to all these words, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babel and serve him and his people and live." ¹³ Why will you die, you and your people, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, just as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ And do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, "You shall not serve the king of Babel," for they are prophesying falsehood to you. ¹⁵ For I did not send them, says the LORD, and they are prophesying a lie in my name in order to drive you away so that you perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you. ¹⁶ And to the priests and to all this people I spoke, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the house of the LORD are returning from Babylon soon, quickly,’ for they are falsehoods they prophesy to you.” ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babel and live. Why should this city become a desolation? ¹⁸ And if they are prophets and if there is a word of the LORD with you, let them intercede, please, with the LORD of Hosts so that the remaining vessels do not come into the house of the LORD, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁹ For thus says the LORD of Hosts concerning the stands and the sea and the bases and the rest of the vessels remaining in this city. ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel did not take in his exile of Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babel, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; ²¹ For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the house of the LORD and the house of the king of Judah and Jerusalem. ²² To Babylon they will be brought, and there they will be until the day I visit them—the utterance of the LORD. And I will bring them up and I will return them to this place.