Jeremiah 27

¹ At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

² This is what the LORD said to me: "Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck."

³ "Then send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah."

⁴ "Give them this charge for their masters: 'This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Tell your masters this:"

⁵ "I made the earth, the human beings, and the animals that are on the face of the earth by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever I see fit."

⁶ "Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I have also given him the wild animals to serve him."

⁷ "All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time for his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him serve them."

⁸ "The nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon—I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with plague, declares the LORD, until I have finished them off by his hand."

⁹ "So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'"

¹⁰ "For they are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land; I will drive you out and you will perish."

¹¹ "But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him—I will let it remain on its own soil, declares the LORD, and it will farm it and live there."

¹² To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke all these same words: "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live."

¹³ "Why should you die—you and your people—by the sword, by famine, and by plague, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?"

¹⁴ "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you."

¹⁵ "For I did not send them, declares the LORD, and they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish—you and the prophets who are prophesying to you."

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people: "This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, 'Look! The vessels of the house of the LORD will be brought back from Babylon soon now.' For they are prophesying a lie to you."

¹⁷ "Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?"

¹⁸ "But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now intercede with the LORD of Hosts that the vessels remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem not go to Babylon."

¹⁹ For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,

²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—

²¹ yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the vessels remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

²² "They will be carried to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I attend to them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place."