Jeremiah 25 is the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapter 25 is the final chapter in the first section of the Book of Jeremiah, which deals with the earliest and main core of Jeremiah's message. In this chapter, Jeremiah identified the length of the time of exile as seventy years (verses 11-12).
Text The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 38 verses in English Bibles and the Masoretic Text. In the Septuagint, verse 14 is omitted, and verses 15-38 are numbered as Jeremiah 32:15-38 (see "Verse numbering" below).
Verse numbering The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text (Hebrew), and Vulgate (Latin), in some places differs from that in Septuagint (LXX, the Greek Bible used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and others) according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from Brenton's Septuagint, page 971.
The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study (CATSS) based on Alfred Rahlfs' Septuaginta (1935), differs in some details from Joseph Ziegler's critical edition (1957) in Göttingen LXX. Swete's Introduction mostly agrees with Rahlfs' edition (=CATSS).
Hebrew, Vulgate, EnglishRahlfs' LXX (CATSS)Brenton's LXX25:1-12 25:1-12 25:13 25:13-14 25:13,3425:14 none 25:15-38 32:1-24 49:35-39 25:15-19 25:35-3949:34 25:20 26:1
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008). Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e., 4QJerc (4Q72; 1st century BC),"The Evolution of a Theory of the Local Texts" in Cross, F.M.; Talmon, S. (eds) (1975) Qumran and the History of Biblical Text (Cambridge, MA - London). p.308 n. 8 with extant verses 7‑8, 15‑17, 24‑26 (similar to Masoretic Text).
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (with a different verse numbering and some textual differences), made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century).
Parashot The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.As reflected in the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 edition of the Hebrew Bible in English. Jeremiah 25 contains the Ninth prophecy in the section of Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1-25). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah. {P} 25:1-7 {P} 25:8-14 {P} 25:15-27a {P} 25:27b-31 כה אמר {S} 25:32-38 {P}
Seventy years of captivity (25:1–14) Verse 1 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 (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). NKJV The "word of the Lord" in Jeremiah 36:1 also came to Jeremiah "in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah". The bracketed words, "which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon", are doubted to be original as they are not included in the Septuagint.Streane, A. W. (1913), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Jeremiah 25, accessed 25 February 2019
Verse 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: NKJV The message concerned all the people and was therefore delivered to all the people, proclaimed without fear by Jeremiah.
Verse 3 "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. NKJV Cross reference: Jeremiah 1:2 "Even to this day": that is the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah (605 BC), so since "the thirteenth year of Josiah" (627 BC), it was "the 23th year" of persistent proclaiming God's Word by Jeremiah.
Verse 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. NKJV "These nations": Judah and the surrounding nations, such as Moab and Phoenicia. "Seventy years": may represent "the length of lifetime" ().The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. p. 1117-1119 Hebrew Bible. The New King James Version dates the "seventy years of serving" the king of Babylon from circa 605 BC (2 Kings 24:1) and ends them circa 536 BC ().Footnote b at Jeremiah 25:12 in the New King James Version The same seventy-year duration is referred to in Zechariah 1:12.Barnes, A., Barnes' Notes on Zechariah 1, accessed on 31 December 2024
Verse 12 'Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.' NKJV Cross reference: Jeremiah 29:10, ; Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 7:5 "Seventy years": Circa 605-536 BC (see notes on verse 11). The announcement of the Judah's punishment at the hand of foreign nations must have puzzled Jeremiah's audience, as also become the subject of questions by Habakkuk (Habakkuk ), but verse 12 is to put it to rest by stating that after God have used Babylon to punish His people, He would punish Babylon for its sins.
Verse 13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.: NKJV According to biblical commentator A. W. Streane, "at this point there presents itself one of the most marked discrepancies between the Septuagint Version of Jeremiah and the Hebrew. The Greek Version as it stands now ends the sentence with 'in this book', and reads as a new sentence, and title of the section on the nations, “What Jeremiah prophesied against the nations”.Streane, A. W. (1911), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Jeremiah 25, accessed 2 March 2019
The Jerusalem Bible ends the first 25 chapters of Jeremiah here: I will bring down on that country (Babylon) all the words I have pronounced again it, all that is written in this book.Jerusalem Bible (1966), Jeremiah 25:13a and the second part of the verse: What Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.Jerusalem Bible (1966), Jeremiah 25:13b starts a new section and acts as the start of "a sort of preface to the oracle against the nations", which is located in chapters 46–51, drawing on the dividing point seen in the Septuagint.
Cup of God’s wrath (25:15–38)
Verse 23 Dedan and Tema and Buz, all the desert dwellers who shave their temples; NABRE The New American Bible Revised Edition identifies these groups as North Arabian tribes.
Verse 26 All the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. NKJV "Sheshach" (): means "Babylon" (, babel; also in Jeremiah 51:41), cryptically written using the "Atbash" monoalphabetic substitution cipher system.
Verse 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds and a howling of the leaders of the flock shall be heard, for the Lord has devastated their pasture. MEV "Their pasture": in Hebrew literally, "their pastures", referring to the place where they "shepherd" their "flocks".Note on Jeremiah 25:36 in NET Bible
See also
Ammon Amon Arabia Ashdod Ashkelon Babylon Buz Chaldea Dedan Edom Egypt Ekron Elam Gaza Jehoiakim Jeremiah Jerusalem Josiah Judah Land of Uz Medes Moab Nebuchadnezzar Pharaoh Philistines Sheshach Sidon Tema Tyre Zimri
Related Bible parts: , Ezra 1, Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah 51, Daniel 1, Daniel 9, Daniel 10, Zechariah 1, Zechariah 7
References
Sources
External links
Jewish Jeremiah 25 Hebrew with Parallel English
Christian Jeremiah 25 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate