8/21/2007Jeremiah 25:15-29 (NRSV)

Jeremiah 25:15-29 (NRSV)
The cup of God's wrath

For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup
of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They
shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that Iam
sending among them.
So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to whom the
Lord sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials,
to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as
they are today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his
people; all the mixed people; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the
land of the Philistines - Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon,
and the kings of the coastland across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who
have shaven temples; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed
peoples that live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all
the kings of Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and
all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the
king of Sheshach shall drink.

Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am
sending among you.

And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say
to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! See, I am beginning to
bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and how can you possibly
avoid punishment? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword
against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.