In the beginning of the reign of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyyahu king of Yehuda, came this word to Yirmeyahu from the Lord, saying,

Thus says the Lord to me; Make bonds and bars for thyself, and put them upon thy neck,

and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Mo᾽av, and to the king of the children of ῾Ammon, and to the king of Żor, and to the king of Żidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Yerushalayim to Żidqiyyahu king of Yehuda;

and command them to say to their masters, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Yisra᾽el; Thus shall you say to your masters;

I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper in my eyes.

And now have I given all these lands to the hand of Nevukhadneżżar the king of Bavel, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come also: and then many nations and great kings shall make him a slave.

And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve this Nevukhadneżżar the king of Bavel, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel, that nation will I punish, says the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Therefore hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Bavel:

for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.

But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, says the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell in it.

I spoke also to Żidqiyya king of Yehuda according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel, and serve him and his people, and live.

Why will you die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Bavel?

Therefore hearken not to the words of the prophets that speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Bavel; for they prophesy a lie to you.

For I have not sent them, says the Lord; but they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you, and the prophets that prophesy to you.

Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the Lord; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought back from Bavel: for they prophesy a lie to you.

Hearken not to them; serve the king of Bavel, and live: why should this city be laid waste?

But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Yehuda, and at Yerushalayim, go not to Bavel.

For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city.

Which Nevukhadneżżar king of Bavel did not take, when he carried away Yekhonya the son of Yehoyaqim king of Yehuda captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel, and all the nobles of Yehuda and Yerushalayim:

for thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Yisra᾽el, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Yehuda and of Yerushalayim;

they shall be carried to Bavel, and there shall they be until the day that I take heed of them, says the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.