Episode 193: Get drunk, vomit, and fall down

Jeremiah 24-26

Two baskets of figs

24 ¹ After Nebuchadnezzar had taken King Jeconiah [Jehoiachin] and the people of Judah into exile in Babylon, God showed me two baskets of figs.

⁴ God said, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"

Jeremiah said, "Figs. Good figs and evil figs that are so evil they can't be eaten."

God said,

The good figs are the people that I sent to Babylon as captives. ⁶ I'll be good to them.

⁸ The bad figs are King Zedekiah and the people who remain in Jerusalem.

⁹ I'll deliver them to all the kingdoms of the earth, so they can hurt, taunt, and curse them wherever they go. ¹⁰ I'll kill them all with war, famine, and disease.

Seventy years

25 ^3-6 For the last 23 years I have told you that this is what God says,

If you don't worship other gods or make things with your hands, I won't hurt you. ⁷ But you didn't listen to me. ⁹ So I'm sending Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, to destroy you. ¹¹ The whole land will be desolate for seventy years. ¹² When the seventy years are over, I'll punish Nebuchadnezzar and destroy Babylon. ¹³ I'll do all the things that Jeremiah has prophesied and that are written in this book.

The wine cup of God's fury

¹⁵ God said,

I'll force all nations to drink from the wine of my fury. ¹⁶ They'll drink from the cup and go mad. Then I'll send a sword to kill them all.

¹⁷ Jeremiah said,

So I took the cup from God's hand and went to each nation and forced them to drink from it. ¹⁸ I started with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah to make them a desolation, astonishment, hissing, and a curse, as it is to this day. ¹⁹ Then I went to Egypt and forced the Pharaoh and all his people to drink from the cup. ²⁰ I continued traveling to every kingdom on earth, forcing each king to drink from the cup of God's wrath. ²⁶ The last king I visited was the king of Babylon, forcing him to drink from the same cup. ²⁷ God told me to say this to each king: Drink and get drunk, vomit, and fall down.

²⁸ God said to Jeremiah,

If they refuse to drink from the cup, say to them,

God says you must drink. ²⁹ He says,

³⁰ I'll roar from on high and give a shout, while I trample all the people on earth, as though I were treading grapes.

³¹ A noise will be heard everywhere on earth, while God pleads with all flesh, killing wicked people with a sword.

They shall be dung upon the ground

³² Evil will go from nation to nation, along with a great whirlwind.

³³ Dead bodies will cover the ground from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them. They'll be like dung on the face of the earth.

³⁴ Howl, cry, wallow in ashes, because the day of your slaughter is here.

³⁵ No one will be able to escape.

³⁷ Peaceful homes will be completely destroyed by God. ³⁸ He’ll make the land desolate in his anger.

Jeremiah's temple prophecy

26 ¹ In the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, the word of God came to Jeremiah, saying,

² Stand in my house and say these words. Don't leave out a single word.

³ If the people change their evil ways, I will repent of the evil I planned on doing to them.

⁴ But if they won't obey me, ⁶ I'll destroy this place and Jerusalem will be a curse to all nations.

The trial of Jeremiah

⁸ After Jeremiah finished speaking, the people, priests, and prophets said,

¹¹ This man deserves to die, because he prophesied against this city.

¹² Jeremiah said,

God told me to prophesy against this house and city.

¹³ If you change your evil ways, God will repent of the evil he planned to do against you.

¹⁴ But do whatever you want to me.

¹⁵ If you kill me, though, you'll have innocent blood on your hands.

¹⁶ Then the princes and people said to the priests and the prophets,

This man shouldn't be killed. He's speaking to us in God's name.