World English Bible, British Edition
Jeremiah • Chapter 27
1
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2
the LORD says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.
3
Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king
of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers
who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4
Give them a command to their masters, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies, the
God (Elohim) of Israel says, “You shall tell your masters:
5
‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface
of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me.
6
Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the
king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him.
7
All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the
time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant.
8
“‘“‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom
which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the
yoke of the king of Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until
I have consumed them by his hand.
9
But as for you, don’t listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your
dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the
king of Babylon;”
10
for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so
that I would drive you out, and you would perish.
11
But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remain in their own land,’ says the LORD; ‘and they will
till it and dwell in it.’”’”
12
I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words,
saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
13
Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine,
and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14
Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying,
‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you.
15
For I have not sent them,” says the LORD, “but they prophesy falsely
in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16
Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying,
the LORD says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels
of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you.
17
Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should
this city become a desolation?
18
But if they are prophets, and if the LORD’s word is with them, let
them now make intercession to the LORD of Armies, that the vessels which are left in the LORD’s house,
in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon.
19
For the LORD of Armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the
sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,
20
which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he carried away
captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of
Judah and Jerusalem—
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yes, the LORD of Armies, the God (Elohim) of Israel, says concerning the vessels
that are left in the LORD’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:
22
‘They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the
day that I visit them,’ says the LORD; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’”