Jeremiah 25
Summary for Jer 25:1-14: 25:1-14 a The Lord had long been patient with Jerusalem’s rebellion and refusal to listen, but now the time for judgment was at hand. 25:1 b One of the first acts of Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar was to force Judah’s king Jehoiakim to confess loyalty to him.25:3 c Jeremiah’s ministry began in 627 BC.
25:4 d For many generations, God had sent prophets to the people, but they had not paid attention to the Lord’s warnings.
Summary for Jer 25:5-6: 25:5-6 e The Lord appealed to his people to turn from ... the evil things they were doing that provoked his anger. Then he would not harm them, but instead pour out his covenant blessings.
Summary for Jer 25:7-9: 25:7-9 f The people had not listened to the Lord’s decrees to turn from their evil ways; instead, they kept worshiping idols. So the Lord would completely destroy them.
25:10 g All forms of festivity, even simple pleasures such as singing and laughter, would cease.
• millstones ... lights: After the destruction of Judah, no one would remain to do the work or to enjoy its fruits.
25:11 h seventy years: This is the first instance of a specific time period assigned to the Exile. The prediction was fulfilled either from 605 BC (the first exile to Babylon) to around 538 BC (when Cyrus allowed the exiles to return to Judea), or from 586 BC (the destruction of the Temple) to 515 BC (the dedication of the Second Temple). Or, the number can be seen as symbolic: God’s judgment on Jerusalem would last a perfect lifetime, and for the exact length of time that God had determined.
Summary for Jer 25:12-14: 25:12-14 i Although the Lord used them to carry out judgment on Judah, the Babylonians would be held accountable for their sins, for their brutality, and for their abuse of those they defeated. In 539 BC, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus the Persian, and the people were taken into captivity. For centuries, many nations and great kings reduced the Babylonians to slavery, and the territory did not become independent again until 1932, as modern Iraq.
Summary for Jer 25:15-38: 25:15-38 j The Lord is the sovereign king of all the nations, and their rebellion was about to result in judgment.
• to whom I send you: Jeremiah did not physically travel to each nation. The message he delivered from the Lord spread mostly through written material, much of it in the book of Jeremiah, which has been read throughout the world. 25:15 k The messages of wrath that the Lord gave to Jeremiah were represented as a cup full of the wine of the Lord’s anger (Rev 14:10 l). Jeremiah was to make the nations drink from it; God wanted them to hear the messages of condemnation and to experience the promised judgment.
25:16 m Upon drinking from the cup (25:15 n), the nations would stagger as though drunken. They would be crazed by the warfare and would thus be unable to protect themselves. They would feel hopeless and helpless, and in their confusion, they would panic.
25:17 o So I ... made all the nations drink from it: Jeremiah accomplished this by announcing God’s judgment.
25:18 p Everyone drank from the cup, meaning that the leaders heard the words of judgment.
• From that day until this: Jeremiah probably delivered the Lord’s messages at the time of the siege and fall of Jerusalem (588–586 BC).
Summary for Jer 25:19-20: 25:19-20 q The foreigners who heard the prophet’s message included many refugees who fled from Judah and neighboring countries to Egypt when the Babylonians invaded.
• Uz was a region on the northern border of Arabia; Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod were Philistine cities near the Mediterranean Sea.
Summary for Jer 25:21-22: 25:21-22 r The small nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon were east and southeast of the Dead Sea. The Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were to the northwest, along the Mediterranean Sea. The regions across the sea were probably the islands of Cyprus and Crete.
Summary for Jer 25:23-26: 25:23-26 s Dedan, Tema, ... Buz, and Zimri were located in the desert area east of the Jordan Valley, north of Arabia. Elam and Media, located in the highlands to the east of Babylon, made up the core of the Persian Empire, which conquered Babylon in 539 BC.
Summary for Jer 25:27-29: 25:27-29 t These kingdoms had to drink from this cup of the Lord’s anger (see study note on 25:15). They would be unable to escape the disaster that would overwhelm them. Jerusalem experienced God’s judgment, and so would the surrounding nations.
Summary for Jer 25:30-31: 25:30-31 u First, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah against his own land, Judah; then Jeremiah delivered the messages of God’s judgment against everyone on earth.
Summary for Jer 25:32-33: 25:32-33 v Disaster ... great whirlwind of fury: These words emphasize the awful nature of the wars that tore many nations apart during the 500s BC.
Summary for Jer 25:34-35: 25:34-35 w The earth’s evil shepherds were vicious tyrants who ruled the nations.
• Roll in the dust: A sign of distress.
25:36 x ruining their pastures: The nations led by evil shepherds (25:34 y) would be destroyed because the Lord would enforce his sentence.
Summary for Jer 25:37-38: 25:37-38 z The Lord’s judgment would be so terrifying that it would be like a strong lion seeking its prey. As the object of the Lord’s fierce anger, the nations would be helpless.
25:38 aa Following this verse, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) attaches chs 46–51 ab, which deal primarily with the nations listed in ch 25 ac.
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