1 ¶ At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 The LORD said to me; Prepare straps and bars for yokes, and put one on your neck,

3 Then send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyrus, and the king of Zidon, in the care of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah the king of Judah;

4 And command them to say to their masters, The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says this; Say to your masters;

5 I have made the earth, and the men and beasts who are on the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and give it to anyone that I please.

6 And now I have placed all these countries under the authority of my servant Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon; and I have also given him the beasts of the field to serve him.

7 And all nations should serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time comes also for his country: and then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.

8 And, if any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation, says the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with plague, until I have put an end to them by his hand.

9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, or sorcerers, who tell you that, You will not serve the king of Babylon:

10 For they prophesy a lie to you, which will cause you to be removed far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will die.

11 But I will let the nations that place their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, remain in their own land, says the LORD; and they will till it, and live in it.

12 ¶ I also spoke the same words to Zedekiah the king of Judah, saying, Put your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

13 Why should you and your people die, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has said will happen to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets that tell you, You will not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.

15 For I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that you might die, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.

16 I also spoke to the priests and to all the people, saying, The LORD says; Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house will soon be brought back from Babylon: for it is a lie they are prophesying to you.

17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city be laid waste?

18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, so that the vessels which remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, are not taken to Babylon.

19 For the LORD of hosts says concerning the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,

20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim the king of Judah away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the officials of Judah and Jerusalem;

21 Yea, the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;

22 They will be carried to Babylon, and will remain there until the day that I come for them, says the LORD; then will I bring them back, and restore them to this place.