27Jeremiah 27

Slaves of Nebuchadnezzar

2Not long after Zedekiah became king of Judah, the Lord told me: Jeremiah, make a wooden yoke with leather straps, and place it on your neck.Select Jeremiah 27:2

3Then send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Some officials from these countries are in Jerusalem, meeting with Zedekiah.Select Jeremiah 27:3

4So have them tell their kings that I have said: I am the All-Powerful Lord God of Israel,Select Jeremiah 27:4

5and with my power I created the earth, its people, and all animals. I decide who will rule the earth,Select Jeremiah 27:5

7and I have chosen my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to rule all nations, including yours. I will even let him rule the wild animals. All nations will be slaves of Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson. Then many nations will join together, and their kings will make slaves of the Babylonians.Select Jeremiah 27:7

8This yoke stands for the power of King Nebuchadnezzar, and I will destroy any nation that refuses to obey him. Nebuchadnezzar will attack, and many will die in battle or from hunger and disease.Select Jeremiah 27:8

9You might have people in your kingdom who claim they can tell the future by magic or by talking with the dead or by dreams or messages from a god. But don't pay attention if any of them tell you not to obey Nebuchadnezzar.Select Jeremiah 27:9

10If you listen to such lies, I will have you dragged far from your country and killed.Select Jeremiah 27:10

11But if you and your nation are willing to obey Nebuchadnezzar, I will let you stay in your country, and your people will continue to live and work on their farms.Select Jeremiah 27:11

12After I had spoken to the officials from the nearby kingdoms, I went to King Zedekiah and told him the same thing. Then I said: Zedekiah, if you and the people of Judah want to stay alive, you must obey Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.Select Jeremiah 27:12

13But if you refuse, then you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease, just as the Lord has warned.Select Jeremiah 27:13

14Your prophets have told you that you don't need to obey Nebuchadnezzar, but don't listen to their lies.Select Jeremiah 27:14

15Those prophets claim to be speaking for the Lord, but he didn't send them. They are lying! If you do what they say, he will have both you and them dragged off to another country and killed. The Lord has spoken.Select Jeremiah 27:15

16When I finished talking to the king, I told the priests and everyone else that the Lord had said: Don't listen to the prophets when they say that very soon the Babylonians will return the things they took from my temple. Those prophets are lying!Select Jeremiah 27:16

17If you choose to obey the king of Babylonia, you will live. But if you listen to those prophets, this whole city will be nothing but a pile of rubble.Select Jeremiah 27:17

18If I really had spoken to those prophets, they would know what I am going to do. Then they would be begging me not to let everything else be taken from the temple and the king's palace and the rest of Jerusalem.Select Jeremiah 27:18

21After all, when Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin to Babylonia as a prisoner, he didn't take everything of value from Jerusalem. He left the bronze pillars, the huge bronze bowl called the Sea, and the movable bronze stands in the temple, and he left a lot of other valuable things in the palace and in the rest of Jerusalem. But now I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, say that all these thingsSelect Jeremiah 27:21

22will be taken to Babylonia, where they will remain until I decide to bring them back to Jerusalem. I, the Lord, have spoken.Select Jeremiah 27:22