Jeremiah 27:1-15

1In the beginning of the reign of 12Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying-- 2thus says the Lord to me-Make for yourself 3bonds and 4yokes and put them on your neck, 3and send 5word to the king of 6Edom, to the king of 7Moab, to the king of the sons of 8Ammon, to the king of 9Tyre and to the king of 10Sidon 11by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, 5“12I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth 13by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will 14give it to the one who is 15pleasing in My sight. 6Now I 16have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, 17My servant, and I have given him also the 18wild animals of the field to serve him. 719All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson 20until the time of his own land comes; then 21many nations and great kings will 22make him their servant.

8“It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which 23will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the 24sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed 25it by his hand. 9But as for you, 26do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your 27dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10For they prophesy a 28lie to you in order to 29remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish. 11But the nation which will 30bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will 31let remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.”’”

12I spoke words like all these to 32Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live! 13Why will you 33die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon? 14So 34do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a 35lie to you; 15for 36I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they 37prophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may 38drive you out and that you may perish, 39you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”