Jeremiah 25:15-38
So the LORD, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision.“ Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath. Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it.When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.”So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath.I made Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. Such is already becoming the case!I made all of these other people drink it: Pharaoh, king of Egypt; his attendants, his officials, his people,the foreigners living in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines, the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod;all the people of Edom, Moab, Ammon;all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon; all the kings of the coastlands along the sea;the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples;all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert;all the kings of Zimri; all the kings of Elam; all the kings of Media;all the kings of the north, whether near or far from one another; and all the other kingdoms which are on the face of the earth. After all of them have drunk the wine of the LORD’s wrath, the king of Babylon must drink it.Then the LORD said to me,“ Tell them that the LORD God of Israel who rules over all says,‘ Drink this cup until you get drunk and vomit. Drink until you fall down and can’t get up. For I will send wars sweeping through you.’If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, tell them that the LORD who rules over all says‘ You most certainly must drink it!For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. So how can you possibly avoid being punished? You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the LORD who rules over all, affirm it!’“ Then, Jeremiah, make the following prophecy against them:‘ Like a lion about to attack, the LORD will roar from the heights of heaven; from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly. He will roar mightily against his land. He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes against all those who live on the earth.The sounds of battle will resound to the ends of the earth. For the LORD will bring charges against the nations. He will pass judgment on all humankind and will hand the wicked over to be killed in war.’ The LORD so affirms it!The LORD who rules over all says,‘ Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. A mighty storm of military destruction is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.’Those who have been killed by the LORD at that time will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried. Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery.The leaders will not be able to run away and hide. The shepherds of the flocks will not be able to escape.Listen to the cries of anguish of the leaders. Listen to the wails of the shepherds of the flocks. They are wailing because the LORD is about to destroy their lands.Their peaceful dwelling places will be laid waste by the fierce anger of the LORD.The LORD is like a lion who has left his lair. So their lands will certainly be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation and by the fierce anger of the LORD.”
