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the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord said to me: “Make yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck. 3 Then send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Command them to say to their masters, ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “This is what you must say to your masters: 5 ‘By My great power and My outstretched arm I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals that are on the face of the earth, and I give it to whoever I decide. 6 So I have now given all these lands into the hand of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. 7 All the nations will serve him and his son and his son’s son until the time of his land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.
8 ‘But if any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, or place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence’, declares the Lord, ‘until I have destroyed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your mediums, or your sorcerers who say to you, “You will not serve the king of Babylon”. 10 For they prophesy a lie to you, that will result in you being removed far from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish. 11 But if any nation will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave that nation on its own land, to till the land and live there’ ” ’.”
12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way, saying, “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. 13 Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has threatened against any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon’, for they are prophesying a lie to you. 15 ‘I have not sent them’, declares the Lord, ‘but they are prophesying falsely in My name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you’.”
16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets, who are prophesying to you, claiming: “Look, the vessels of the Lord’s House will be brought back from Babylon very soon”; for they are prophesying a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a ruin? 18 But if they are really prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them intercede with the Lord of Hosts that the articles remaining in the House of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon’.
19 “For this is what the Lord of Hosts says about the pillars, the Sea, the movable stands, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 Yes, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the House of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22 ‘They will be carried off to Babylon, and they will remain there until the day that I come for them’, declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place’.”