The big picture
Jeremiah speaks to Judah, the southern kingdom, after twenty-three years of warnings. Its capital, Jerusalem, has not listened. King Jehoiakim is in his fourth year. Nebuchadrezzar has begun ruling Babylon, the power that will invade. God announces seventy years of service to that kingdom, followed by judgement on Babylon itself. A cup of furious wine then pictures a wider reckoning. The warning reaches neighbouring peoples, distant rulers, and leaders who assumed their rank would preserve them.
In this chapter
- Years of Warning Have Not Brought Listening Jeremiah 25:1-7
Jeremiah addresses the people in the reign of Jehoiakim, son of the earlier king Josiah.
- Babylon Serves and Then Faces Its Reckoning Jeremiah 25:8-14
Because the people have not heard, God will bring northern forces under Babylon's king, whom he calls his servant.
- One Cup Passes Through the Nations Jeremiah 25:15-26
God gives Jeremiah a cup representing his fury and sends him to make the nations drink.
- Refusing the Cup Cannot Prevent Judgement Jeremiah 25:27-29
Jeremiah must tell the nations to drink, reel, and fall because God is sending the sword among them.
- A Roar Announces Judgement Across the Earth Jeremiah 25:30-33
God's voice is pictured roaring from his holy dwelling and sounding like the shout of people treading grapes.
- The Shepherds Find No Path of Escape Jeremiah 25:34-38
Leaders pictured as shepherds and leading members of a flock are told to cry and roll in ashes.
Central truth
God judges long refusal through Babylon, then judges Babylon too, as the cup of his wrath reaches rulers and nations without exemption.
Scripture beside the summary
Jeremiah · King James Version · 38Jeremiah 25:1-7
Years of Warning Have Not Brought Listening
Jeremiah addresses the people in the reign of Jehoiakim, son of the earlier king Josiah. He counts twenty-three years since God's word first came to him during Josiah's rule. He has spoken persistently, but they have not listened. God also sent other prophets with the same urgent call. Each person was to turn from evil, stop serving other gods, and remain in the land given to their ancestors. Instead they provoked him with objects their own hands had made. God gave them time to hear. They chose not to listen, and harm will follow.
In everyday life
A boiler inspector opens a folder of dated notices beside a plant operator who claims the shutdown warning is sudden. Each sheet records the same unresolved fault and the work required. Years of continued operation have not cancelled it. Jeremiah records God's repeated call to leave evil and false worship, not a maintenance dispute.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:3 The twenty-three years measure sustained speech met by refusal. The warning has not failed because it was brief, hidden, or delivered only once.
Jeremiah 25:1-7
King James Version1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
4And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jeremiah 25:8-14
Babylon Serves and Then Faces Its Reckoning
Because the people have not heard, God will bring northern forces under Babylon's king, whom he calls his servant. They will devastate this land and surrounding nations. Wedding sounds, grinding grain, and lamplight will cease. The nations will serve Babylon for seventy years. When that time ends, God will punish its king and people for their own wrongdoing. Other nations and great kings will then subject them. Being used in God's judgement does not make the empire innocent. It too will receive an answer fitting what its hands have done.
In everyday life
A court-appointed receiver takes control of a failed firm, then faces a separate inquiry for misusing funds during that work. The original appointment does not authorise theft. Records of both duties and abuses lie before the investigator. God uses an invading kingdom and later judges its deeds; a court appointment involves a defined human office.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:12 Babylon's punishment follows its appointed period of rule. Calling its king God's servant does not remove his accountability for the empire's own wrongdoing.
Jeremiah 25:8-14
King James Version8Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
13And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
Jeremiah 25:15-26
One Cup Passes Through the Nations
God gives Jeremiah a cup representing his fury and sends him to make the nations drink. Its effects picture the terror and confusion brought by war. The list begins with the capital and its towns, then reaches Egypt, the southern kingdom, and neighbouring peoples. Coastal cities, desert rulers, eastern kingdoms, and distant northern lands follow. No part of the inhabited world is left outside the widening list. The king of Sheshach, a symbolic name for Babylon, drinks after the others. Babylon brings war to other lands. At last it must drink too.
In everyday life
A disaster archivist spreads regional reports across a long table, beginning with her own district and adding files from coast, desert, and distant towns. The growing line defeats any claim that only outsiders suffered. She leaves no region's folder hidden beneath another. Jeremiah's cup announces God's judgement on nations, while the archivist records human losses.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:26 The final king drinks after the others. That order prevents the kingdom bringing war from appearing permanently outside the judgement it helps carry to other peoples.
Jeremiah 25:15-26
King James Version15For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
17Then took I the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
18To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
21Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Jeremiah 25:27-29
Refusing the Cup Cannot Prevent Judgement
Jeremiah must tell the nations to drink, reel, and fall because God is sending the sword among them. If they refuse the cup, he is to insist that they will drink it. God begins with the city bearing his own name. Other nations therefore have no grounds to claim exemption. The threat extends to the inhabitants of the earth. They can reject the words. They cannot stop the judgement those words announce. The cup is a commanded picture of judgement, not an invitation that rulers can safely decline.
In everyday life
A fire inspector hands notices to every owner in a row of unsafe buildings, including the council's own property. One owner refuses the envelope as though that will remove the finding. The inspection record still names his building. God summons judgement across the earth; a refused notice remains within a limited human process.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:29 Judgement begins at the city called by God's name. Its special relationship becomes the reason other nations cannot assume that they will escape accountability.
Jeremiah 25:27-29
King James Version27Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jeremiah 25:30-33
A Roar Announces Judgement Across the Earth
God's voice is pictured roaring from his holy dwelling and sounding like the shout of people treading grapes. The noise reaches the earth's ends because he has a case against the nations. He judges humanity and hands the wicked to the sword. Disaster moves from one nation to another like a great storm rising at the world's edges. The dead will lie across the earth without mourning, gathering, or burial. The judgement brings vast loss. There are too many dead for the living to give them the care they are due.
In everyday life
A humanitarian records officer receives lists of missing people from one region after another. Each new delivery exceeds the small team's capacity to trace families or arrange remembrance. She keeps every name despite the growing backlog. Jeremiah announces worldwide divine judgement and unburied dead, which a relief record cannot explain or measure fully.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:33 The dead are neither gathered nor mourned. The warning removes the ordinary care communities give their dead, making the scale and disorder of the loss clear.
Jeremiah 25:30-33
King James Version30Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
32Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Jeremiah 25:34-38
The Shepherds Find No Path of Escape
Leaders pictured as shepherds and leading members of a flock are told to cry and roll in ashes. Their time of slaughter and scattering has arrived. They will fall like a valued vessel that breaks. There is no route for them to flee. Their cries rise because God has ruined their pastures and cut down peaceful dwellings. He comes out like a lion leaving cover. The land becomes desolate under fierce oppression and divine anger. Their rank will not save them. They fall with the flock they once led.
In everyday life
A displaced mayor sits with other residents in a temporary shelter, unable to locate the neighbourhood where her office once stood. The former title supplies no private exit from the shared loss. She fills out the same missing-property form as everyone else. Jeremiah announces God's judgement on shepherds, not equal treatment in a relief queue.
Notice
Jeremiah 25:35 The leaders have no escape route. Their place above the flock does not lift them outside the consequences falling upon its pasture and homes.
Jeremiah 25:34-38
King James Version34Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
36A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
37And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Jeremiah 25:1 begins with “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year…”
Where the chapter turns
Jeremiah 25:17 forms a natural hinge: “Then took I the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:”
The final note
Jeremiah 25:38 leaves the reader with “He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, kings, king, land, drink, earth help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- recompense
- Repay according to the actions a person or people have done.
- spue
- Vomit, here part of the image of judgement as overwhelming drink.
- covert
- A sheltered hiding place, here the place from which a lion emerges.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
