1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying—
2. thus says Adonai to me—“Make straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.
3. Then send such to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of Ammon’s children, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of messengers that come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah.
4. Charge them to their masters, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, thus will you say to your masters:
5. ‘I have made the earth, mankind and beast which are on 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.
6. So now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant. I have even given the beasts of the field to serve him.