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Jeremiah 25:11-12

This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

“It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Jeremiah 25:11-12 sits inside this longer paragraph.

Therefore Yahweh of Armies says: “Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

“It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever. I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

    “It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.

  • KJV King James Version

    And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

    And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And this whole land shall be a desolation, and a waste; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

    And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it perpetual desolations.

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

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Cross-references (28)

  • Daniel 9:2 (vv11–12) in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the…
  • Zechariah 1:12 (v11) Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which…
  • 2 Chronicles 36:21-22 (v11) to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to…
  • Isaiah 13:19 (v12) Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
  • Jeremiah 25:12 (v11) “It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their…
Show all 27 cross-references
  • Zechariah 7:5 (v11) “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for…
  • Isaiah 23:15-17 (v11) It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy…
  • Jeremiah 4:27 (v11) For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
  • Jeremiah 12:11-12 (v11) They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no one cares. Destroyers have…
  • Jeremiah 29:10 (v12) For Yahweh says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to…
  • Isaiah 14:23 (v12) “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of…
  • Jeremiah 50:1-46 (v12) The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. “Declare among the nations…
  • Jeremiah 51:62-64 (v12) and say, ‘Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it…
  • Deuteronomy 32:35-42 (v12) Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at…
  • 2 Kings 24:1 (v12) In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
  • Ezra 1:1-2 (v12) Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit…
  • Isaiah 13:1-14 (v12) The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand,…
  • Isaiah 15:6 (v12) For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
  • Isaiah 20:1–21:17 (v12) In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; at that time…
  • Isaiah 46:1–47:1 (v12) Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a…
  • Jeremiah 23:2 (v12) Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and…
  • Jeremiah 25:14 (v12) For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and…
  • Jeremiah 51:24-26 (v12) “I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says Yahweh.…
  • Ezekiel 35:9 (v12) I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
  • Daniel 5:1-31 (v12) Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the…
  • Habakkuk 2:1-20 (v12) I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer…
  • Revelation 18:1-24 (v12) After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory. He…

27 distinct cross-references across this passage (28 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (19 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Here the Prophet mentions the restriction of which I…

Here the Prophet mentions the restriction of which I have spoken, and thus he mitigates the severity of their punishment. It is, then, a kind of correction; not that he changes anything, but only by this sort of correction he explains what he before meant by perpetual desolations.

He says, The whole land shall be a waste and an astonishment, or as some render it, “a desolation.” The word שמם, indeed, means to lay desolate, and also to astonish; but as he had lately used the word in the sense of astonishment, I see no reason for changing its meaning here, especially as it is connected with חרבה, charebe. But as to the drift of the passage, there is not much difference whether we say, the land shall be a desolation, or an astonishment; for it was to be a solitude — reduced to a desolation or a wilderness.

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And serve shall these nations the king of Babylon seventy years, there the Prophet concludes his prophecy concerning the future calamity of the people, even that the land would be reduced to a solitude, so as to render every one passing through it astonished, or that it was to become a horrid spectacle on account of its desolation. And that a time of seventy years was fixed, it was a testimony of God’s paternal kindness towards his people, not indiscriminately towards the whole multitude, but towards the remnant of whom he had spoken elsewhere. Then the Prophet means, that however grievously the Jews had sinned, yet God would execute only a temporary punishment; for after seventy years, as we shall see, he would restore them to their own country, and repair what they had lost, even the inhabitation of the promised land, the holy city, and the Temple. And this is more fully expressed in the next verse.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v12 For seeing the judgment began at his own house,…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–12 This prophecy is a famous prophecy in regard of…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–12 And this whole land shall be a desolation,.... Not…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v12 Accomplished - Counted from the time that the Jews…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Verse 11. Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Jer 25:11. These nations shall serve the king of…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Seventy years - The duration of the Babylonian empire…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Years. Ver. 1. The neighbouring nations were also involved…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v11 seventy years-- (Jer 27:7). The exact number of years…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. Seventy years — Used not as a round…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. and these nations shall serve the king of…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–12 (11) Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years.—This is…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Widely…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 seventy years
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Judgment on the Kingdoms
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v12 when seventy years have been completed
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11–12 25:11 seventy years: This is the first instance of…
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