15 For thus hath Jehovah the God of Israel said unto me: Take the cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it.
16 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
17 And I took the cup at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me:
18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a waste, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gazah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles that are beyond the sea;
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners [of their beard] cut off;
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert;
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, and be drunken, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ye shall certainly drink.
29 For behold, I begin to bring evil on the city that is called by my name, and should ye be altogether unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts.
30 And thou, prophesy unto them all these words, and say unto them, Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar upon his dwelling-place, he will give a shout, as they that tread [the vintage], against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 The noise shall come to the end of the earth: for Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations, he entereth into judgment with all flesh; as for the wicked, he will give them up to the sword, saith Jehovah.
32 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
33 And the slain of Jehovah shall [be] at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in the dust], noble ones of the flock: for the days of your slaughter are accomplished, and I will disperse you; and ye shall fall like a precious vessel.
35 And refuge shall perish from the shepherds, and escape from the noble ones of the flock.
36 There shall be a voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the noble ones of the flock: for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture;
37 and the peaceable enclosures shall be desolated, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
38 He hath forsaken his covert as a young lion; for their land is a desolation because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 25
Commentary on Jeremiah 25 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 25
The prophecy of this chapter bears date some time before those prophecies in the chapters next foregoing, for they are not placed in the exact order of time in which they were delivered. This is dated in the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, that remarkable year when the sword of the Lord began to be drawn and furbished. Here is,
Jer 25:1-7
We have here a message from God concerning all the people of Judah (v. 1), which Jeremiah delivered, in his name, unto all the people of Judah, v. 2. Note, That which is of universal concern ought to be of universal cognizance. It is fit that the word which concerns all the people, as the word of God does, the word of the gospel particularly, should be divulged to all in general, and, as far as may be, addressed to each in particular. Jeremiah had been sent to the house of the king (ch. 22:1), and he took courage to deliver his message to them, probably when they had all come up to Jerusalem to worship at one of the solemn feasts; then he had them together, and it was to be hoped then, if ever, they would be well disposed to hear counsel and receive instruction.
This prophecy is dated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first of Nebuchadrezzar. It was in the latter end of Jehoiakim's third year that Nebuchadrezzar began to reign by himself alone (having reigned some time before in conjunction with his father), as appears, Dan. 1:1. But Jehoiakim's fourth year was begun before Nebuchadrezzar's first was completed. Now that that active, daring, martial prince began to set up for the world's master, God, by his prophet, gives notice that he is his servant, and intimates what work he intends to employ him in, that his growing greatness, which was so formidable to the nations, might not be construed as any reflection upon the power and providence of God in the government of the world. Nebuchadrezzar should not bid so fair for universal monarchy (I should have said universal tyranny) but that God had purposes of his own to serve by him, in the execution of which the world shall see the meaning of God's permitting and ordering a thing that seemed such a reflection on his sovereignty and goodness.
Now in this message we may observe the great pains that had been taken with the people to bring them to repentance, which they are here put in mind of, as an aggravation of their sin and a justification of God in his proceedings against them.
Jer 25:8-14
Here is the sentence grounded upon the foregoing charge: "Because you have not heard my words, I must take another course with you,' v. 8. Note, When men will not regard the judgments of God's mouth they may expect to feel the judgments of his hands, to hear the rod, since they would not hear the word; for the sinner must either be parted from his sin or perish in it. Wrath comes without remedy against those only that sin without repentance. It is not so much men's turning aside that ruins them as their not returning.
Jer 25:15-29
Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country. The cup in the vision is to be a sword in the accomplishment of it: so it is explained, v. 16. It is the sword that I will send among them, the sword of war, that should be irresistibly strong and implacably cruel.
Jer 25:30-38
We have, in these verses, a further description of those terrible desolations which the king of Babylon with his armies should make in all the countries and nations round about Jerusalem. In Jerusalem God had erected his temple; there were his oracles and ordinances, which the neighbouring nations should have attended to and might have received benefit by; thither they should have applied for the knowledge of God and their duty, and then they might have had reason to bless God for their neighbourhood to Jerusalem; but they, instead of that, taking all opportunities either to debauch or to disturb that holy city, when God came to reckon with Jerusalem because it learned so much of the way of the nations, he reckoned with the nations because they learned so little of the way of Jerusalem.
They will soon be aware of Nebuchadrezzar's making war upon them; but the prophet is here directed to tell them that it is God himself that makes war upon them, a God with whom there is no contending.