5

The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: ¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, ²⁰and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines  Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); ²¹ Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; ²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; ²³ Dedan, 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, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; ²⁶all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

²⁷"Then 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 that I am sending among you.'

²⁸"And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink! ²⁹For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.'

³⁰"You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

  "'The LORD will roar from on high,
and from his holy habitation utter his voice;
he will roar mightily against his fold,
  and shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
³¹The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against the nations;
 he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword,

declares the LORD.'

³²"Thus says the LORD of hosts:Behold, disaster is going forth
from nation to nation,
 and a great tempest is stirring
  from the farthest parts of the earth!

³³ "And those pierced by the LORD on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.
³⁴ "Wail, you shepherds, and cry out,
  and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come,
and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
³⁵No refuge will remain for the shepherds,
nor escape for the lords of the flock.
³⁶A voice—the cry of the shepherds,
  and the wail of the lords of the flock!
For the LORD is laying waste their pasture,
³⁷ and the peaceful folds are devastated
  because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
³⁸Like a lion he has left his lair,
for their land has become a waste
because of the sword of the oppressor,
  and because of his fierce anger."

Jeremiah 36

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll

⁴Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him. ⁵And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, "I am banned from going to the house of the LORD, ⁶so you are to go, and on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the LORD’s house you shall read the words of the LORD from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. ⁷ It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the LORD, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people." ⁸And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.

⁹ In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD. ¹⁰Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house.

¹¹When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll, ¹²he went down to the king’s house, into the secretary’s chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. ¹³And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. ¹⁴Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, "Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come." So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. ¹⁵And they said to him, "Sit down and read it." So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, "We must report all these words to the king." ¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, "Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?" ¹⁸Baruch answered them, "He dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll." ¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are."

²⁰So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. ²¹Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. ²²It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.

²⁷Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁸"Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, 'Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, "Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?" ³⁰Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. ³¹ And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.'"

³²Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah 45

Message to Baruch

Jeremiah 46

Judgment on Egypt

²About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
³ "Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!
⁴ Harness the horses;
mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
  polish your spears,
put on your armor!
⁵Why have I seen it?They are dismayed
and have turned backward.
Their warriors are beaten down
and have fled in haste;
 they look not back—
  terror on every side!

declares the LORD.

⁶"The swift cannot flee away,
nor the warrior escape;
 in the north by the river Euphrates
  they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷"Who is this, rising like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge?
⁸Egypt rises like the Nile,
like rivers whose waters surge.
He said, 'I will rise, I will cover the earth,
I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.'
⁹ Advance, O horses,
and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,
  men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
¹⁰ That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts,
  a day of vengeance,
to avenge himself on his foes.
 The sword shall devour and be sated
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice
  in the north country by the river Euphrates.
¹¹ Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
¹²The nations have heard of your shame,
and the earth is full of your cry;
 for warrior has stumbled against warrior;
they have both fallen together."

¹³The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
¹⁴"Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
say, 'Stand ready and be prepared,
for the sword shall devour around you.'
¹⁵Why are your mighty ones face down?
They do not stand
because the LORD thrust them down.
¹⁶He made many stumble, and they fell,
and they said one to another,
'Arise, and let us go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
  because of the sword of the oppressor.'
¹⁷Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
'Noisy one who lets the hour go by.'

¹⁸ "As I live, declares the King,
  whose name is the LORD of hosts,
like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
¹⁹ Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,
O inhabitants of Egypt!
For Memphis shall become a waste,
a ruin, without inhabitant.

²⁰"A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
²¹Even her hired soldiers in her midst
are like fattened calves;
yes, they have turned and fled together;
they did not stand,
for the day of their calamity has come upon them,
  the time of their punishment.

²²"She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;
for her enemies march in force
and come against her with axes
  like those who fell trees.
²³ They shall cut down her forest,
declares the LORD,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous than locusts;
they are without number.
²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;
she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north."

²⁵The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: "Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶ I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD.
²⁷ "But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸ Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the LORD,
for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
to which I have driven you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
 I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished."