Jeremiah 25:2–11

²So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day— twenty-three years— the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again,^a but you have not listened. ⁴And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again,^b but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

⁵The prophets told you, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and deeds, and you can dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. ⁶Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’

⁷‘But to your own harm, you have not listened to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so you have provoked Me to anger with the works of your hands.’

⁸Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, ⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction^c and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. ¹¹And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.