A prediction about being exiled for 70 years

1After Jehoiakim had been ruling Judah for almost four years, Yahweh gave me this message for all the people of Judah. It was during the year that King Nebuchadnezzar started to rule in Babylon.

2I spoke this message to all the people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah:

3“Yahweh has been giving me messages for 23 years. He started giving me messages when Josiah, the son of Amon, had been ruling Judah for almost 13 years. And I have faithfully told you those messages, but you have not paid any attention to them.

4Many times Yahweh has sent to you the prophets who served him, but you have not listened to them or paid any attention to what they said.

5Each time their message was this: ‘Turn from all your evil behavior [MET], from all the evil things that you have continually been doing. If you do that, you will be able to stay in this land that Yahweh gave to you and to your ancestors, to belong to you forever.

6Do not cause Yahweh to become angry by serving and worshiping idols that you have made with your hands. If you do not cause him to be angry, he will not punish/harm you.’

7And Yahweh says, ‘But you would not pay attention to the messages that I gave to those prophets. You caused me to become extremely angry by your worshiping idols that you had made with your own hands. That resulted in my punishing you.

8So now, I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say that because you have not paid attention to what I said,

9I will gather all the armies of the nations that will come from the northeast. I have appointed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to lead them. I have appointed him to do my work for me. I will bring those armies to attack this land and nearby countries. I will completely destroy them, and cause them to be places that people are horrified about, and that people will ◄ridicule/act contemptuously toward►, places that will be ruined forever.

10I will cause happy singing and laughing to cease in your land. There will no longer be brides and bridegrooms talking joyfully. There will not be the sound of people grinding grain with millstones. There will be no lamps lit in your houses.

11All of this land will become a desert where no one will live. And the people of Israel and of the nearby countries will will be exiled to Babylonia and ◄work for/be slaves of► the kings of Babylon for seventy years.

12Then, after they have been in Babylonia for seventy years, I will punish the King of Babylonia and his people for the sins that they have committed. I will cause Babylonia to become a wasteland/desert forever.

13I will cause them to experience all the terrible things that Jeremiah has written about—all the punishments that he predicted will happen to all those nations.

14The leaders of many nations will cause the people of Babylonia to become their slaves, like the people of Babylonia caused my people to become slaves. I will punish them like they deserve for having caused my people to suffer.’ ”

The wine that symbolized God’s punishment

15Then Yahweh, the God we Israelis worship, gave me a vision. In the vision he was holding a cup of wine. He said, “Take from me this cup that is full of wine that represents punishment [MTY]. I will cause all the leaders of the nations to which I will send you to drink some of the wine in this cup.

16When they drink the wine, they will stagger and act like crazy people, because they will realize that I will ◄massacre many of their people/cause many of their people to be killed► [MTY] with swords.”

17So, in the vision, I took that cup full of wine from Yahweh, and I took it to all the nations to which he sent me, and caused the leaders of those nations to drink some of that wine.

18I went to Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah, and the king and the other officials drank some of the wine from that cup. And, starting from that day, they all eventually were removed from having authority, and became people whom others ◄ridiculed/acted contemptuously towards►, who were despised, and cursed.

19In the vision I went to Egypt and gave some of the wine to the king and his officials and many of his people,

20and to foreigners who were living there. In the vision I also went to Uz land and to Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod cities and gave some of the wine to the kings of those places.

21Then in the vision I went to the Edom, Moab, and Ammon people-groups,

22and to Tyre and Sidon cities and to areas across the Mediterranean Sea, and gave some of the wine to the kings of those places.

23In the vision I then went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz cities in Arabia and to other distant places (OR, places where people cut their hair short), and gave some of the wine to leaders in those areas.

24In the vision I also went to other places in Arabia and to the kings of tribes in the desert

25and to the kings of the Zimri, Elam, and Media people-groups,

26and to kings in countries to the north that are near to Israel and to countries that are far from Israel, one after the other— I went to all the kingdoms in the world [HYP]. And finally, in my vision I went to Babylon, and gave some of the wine to the king of Babylon—the wine that symbolized that Yahweh would punish the people of Babylon because he was angry with them [MTY].

27Then in the vision Yahweh said to me, “Tell them that this is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom we Israelis worship, says: ‘Drink from this cup some of the wine that represents the punishment that I will give you. Drink a lot of it and become drunk and vomit. You will fall down and not get up again, because I will cause you to be killed in wars [MTY] that I will send to you.

28If any of those to whom you give this wine [MTY] refuse to drink it, tell them that the Commander of the armies of angels says that they must drink it.

29I am starting to cause the people of my own city to experience disaster. Do you think that you should not be punished [RHQ]? No, you will surely be punished [LIT] because I am causing there to be wars in all the nations on the earth. That will surely happen because I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have said it.’

30Now tell them all those things that I have said, and also say this to them: ‘Yahweh will shout to them from his holy dwelling in heaven [MTY] and it will sound like the roar of a lion. He will shout like [SIM] people shout when they are treading on grapes to make juice for wine; he will shout to everyone on the earth.

31Even people in very remote places around the earth will hear him shouting, because he will say why he will judge and punish all the nations. He will cause the wicked people to be slaughtered with swords. That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it.’

32Then tell them that this is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: ‘Listen to this! There will be disasters in one nation after another. I am preparing to punish them like [MET] a great storm that starts in the most distant places on the earth.

33When that happens, the corpses of those whom I have caused to be slaughtered will fill the earth from the east to the west. And no one will mourn for them, and no one will gather their corpses to bury them. They will be scattered on the ground like manure.

34You evil leaders, weep and moan! You who should take care of my people, fall down and roll in the dust/dirt. It is time for you to be slaughtered; you will fall down and be shattered like a fragile vase shatters when it falls to the ground.

35You will not find any place to hide, there will be no place to which you can escape.

36People will listen to your leaders crying when I, Yahweh, am ruining your nation.

37Your peaceful meadows will become a wasteland/desert because I will be extremely angry.

38I will leave my dwelling like [SIM] a lion leaves its den to attack other animals, and I will cause your land to become desolate when I, because I am very angry with you, cause your enemies to slaughter you with their swords.’ ”