1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2. Thus saith the LORD to me; Make for thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
3. And 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 messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;
4. And command them to say to their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to your masters;
5. I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my out-stretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed meet to me.
6. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come: and then many nations and great kings shall bring him into subjection.
8. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9. Therefore hearken ye 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, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
10. For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.