Day 41 · Jeremiah 1; 7; 25
Old Testament · Phase 5 · The Babylonian Crisis & Fall of Jerusalem
Call of Jeremiah; Temple sermon; 70-year exile predicted
Jeremiah 1
Section titled “Jeremiah 1”The Call of Jeremiah
1These are the words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
2The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
4The word of the LORD came to me, saying:
5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!”
7But the LORD told me:
“Do not say,
‘I am only a child.’
For to everyone I send you,
you must go,
and all that I command you,
you must speak.
8Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,”
declares the LORD.
9Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me:
“Behold, I have put My words
in your mouth.
10See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and overthrow,
to build and plant.”
11And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
“I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
12“You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”
13Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?”
“I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”
14Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster from the north will be poured out on all who live in the land. 15For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD.
“Their kings will come and set up their thrones
at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.
They will attack all her surrounding walls
and all the other cities of Judah.
16I will pronounce My judgments against them
for all their wickedness,
because they have forsaken Me,
and they have burned incense to other gods
and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 7
Section titled “Jeremiah 7”Jeremiah’s Message at the Temple Gate
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2“Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. 3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words, saying:
‘This is the temple of the LORD,
the temple of the LORD,
the temple of the LORD.’
5For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, 6if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
8But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, 10and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? 11Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.
12But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, 14therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers. 15And I will cast you out of My presence, just as I have cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
Judah’s Idolatry Persists
16As for you, do not pray for these people, do not offer a plea or petition on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you. 17Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. 19But am I the One they are provoking? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?
20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
21This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.
24Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. 25From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again. 26Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
27When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. 28Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. 29Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’
The Valley of Slaughter
30For the people of Judah have done evil in My sight, declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire — something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
32So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 33The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
34I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”
Jeremiah 25
Section titled “Jeremiah 25”Seventy Years of Captivity
1This is the word that came 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 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:
3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day— twenty-three years— the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 4And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.
5The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. 6Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’
7‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’
8Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
10Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
13I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”
The Cup of God’s Wrath
15This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16And they will drink and stagger and go out of their minds, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me, 18to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day — Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people; 20all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; 22all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; 26all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another — all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.
27“Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’
28If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it! 29For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of Hosts.’
30So you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them:
‘The LORD will roar from on high;
He will raise His voice from His holy habitation.
He will roar loudly over His pasture;
like those who tread the grapes,
He will call out with a shout
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth
because the LORD brings a charge against the nations.
He brings judgment on all mankind
and puts the wicked to the sword,’”
declares the LORD.
32This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Behold! Disaster is spreading
from nation to nation;
a mighty storm is rising
from the ends of the earth.”
33Those slain by the LORD on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like dung lying on the ground.
The Cry of the Shepherds
34Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;
roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
For the days of your slaughter have come;
you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.
35Flight will evade the shepherds,
and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.
36Hear the cry of the shepherds,
the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
for the LORD is destroying their pasture.
37The peaceful meadows have been silenced
because of the LORD’s burning anger.
38He has left His den like a lion,
for their land has been made a desolation
by the sword of the oppressor,
and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.