1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yehovah, saying, 2Thus says Yehovah to me: Make bonds and bars for yourself, and put them upon your neck; 3and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah: 4and give them a charge to their masters, saying, Thus says Yehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus you shall say to your masters: 5I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. 6And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also I have given him to serve him. 7And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. 8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Yehovah, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9But as for you, do not hearken to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish. 11But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation I will let remain in their own land, says Yehovah; and they shall till it, and dwell in it. 12And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yehovah has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14And do not hearken to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 15For I have not sent them, says Yehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you. 16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says Yehovah: Do not hearken to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Yehovah’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 17Do not hearken to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation? 18But if they are prophets, and if the word of Yehovah is with them, let them now make intercession to Yehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon. 19For thus says Yehovah of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, 20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21indeed, thus says Yehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: 22They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be, until the day that I visit them, says Yehovah; then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.