1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Thus hath the LORD said unto me: Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck; 3 and thou shalt send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Ammonites and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the ambassadors which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 4 and thou shalt command them to say unto their masters, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said; Thus shall ye say unto your masters: 5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom was upright in my eyes. 6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my slave; and even the beasts of the field I have given him that they might serve him. 7 And all the Gentiles shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his own land shall come also; and many nations and great kings shall serve him.
8 And it shall come to pass, that the people and the kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that people I will visit, saith the LORD, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have finished placing all of them under his hand. 9 Therefore do not hearken unto your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your sorcerers, nor to your enchanters, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 11 But the people that submit their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, said the LORD; and they shall till it and dwell therein.
12 I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Submit your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. 13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken unto the people that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not hearken unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Hearken not unto the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live: why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them pray now unto the LORD of the hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, not go to Babylon. 19 For thus hath the LORD of the hosts said concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which 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; 21 yea, thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said concerning the vessels that remained in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem; 22 they shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, said the LORD; and afterwards I will bring them up and restore them to this place.