1. In the beginning of the reign of Yehoyaqim son of Yoshiyahu, the sovereign of Yehuḏah, this word came to Yirmeyah from יהוה, saying,
2. “This is what יהוה said to me, ‘Make for yourselves bands and yokes. Then you shall put them on your neck,
3. and shall send them to the sovereign of Eḏom, and the sovereign of Mo’aḇ, and the sovereign of the Ammonites, and the sovereign of Tsor, and the sovereign of Tsiḏon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Yerushalayim to Tsiḏqiyahu, the sovereign of Yehuḏah.
4. ‘And you shall command them to say to their masters, “Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Say this to your masters,’
5. ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the face of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm. And I shall give it to whom it seemed right in My eyes.
6. ‘And now, I have given all these lands into the hand of Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar the sovereign of Baḇel, My servant. And the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
7. ‘And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes. And then many nations and great sovereigns shall make him serve them.
8. ‘And it shall be, the nation and reign that do not serve Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar the sovereign of Baḇel, and the one that does not put its neck under the yoke of the sovereign of Baḇel, that nation I shall punish,’ declares יהוה, ‘with the sword, and the scarcity of food, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9. ‘So do not listen to your prophets, or to your diviners, or to your dreamers, or to your observers of clouds, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “Do not serve the sovereign of Baḇel.”
10. ‘For they are prophesying falsehood to you, to remove you far from your land. And I shall drive you out, and you shall perish.
11. ‘But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the sovereign of Baḇel and serve him, I shall leave in their own land,’ declares יהוה, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ”
12. And I spoke to Tsiḏqiyah the sovereign of Yehuḏah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the sovereign of Baḇel, and serve him and his people, and live!
13. “Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the scarcity of food, and by the pestilence, as יהוה has spoken against the nation that does not serve the sovereign of Baḇel?