The Father Ordains Babylon's Rule
27 1 At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from our Father:
2 This is what our Father said to me: Make for yourself straps and yoke-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, through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Command them to say to their masters: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: This is what you shall say to your masters: 5 It is I who made the earth, with the people and the animals that are on the face of the earth, by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whoever I see fit. 6 Now I have given all these lands to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant; I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him. 7 All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time comes for his own land to fall; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.
8 But the nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword, with famine, and with plague, declares our Father, until I have destroyed them by his hand. 9 So as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' 10 For they are prophesying lies to you that will only lead to your exile far from your land; I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave on its own land, declares our Father, to work it and live in it.
12 I spoke these same words to Zedekiah king of Judah: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by plague, as our Father has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying lies to you.
15 For I have not sent them, declares our Father, yet they are prophesying falsely in my name, so that I will drive you out and you will perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.
16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people: This is what our Father says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, 'Look, the vessels of our Father's house will now be brought back from Babylon very soon'—for they are prophesying lies 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 prophets, and if the word of our Father is with them, let them now plead with the Father of heaven's armies that the vessels left in his house, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not be taken to Babylon.
19 For this is what the Father of heaven's armies says concerning the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, a a v19 Here "the Sea" is not a body of water but the huge bronze basin that stood in the temple courtyard, used by the priests for washing. 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem 21 —yes, this is what the Father of heaven's armies says concerning the vessels left in the house of our Father, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem: 22 They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will stay until the day I come for them, declares our Father. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.