Bible Strands
Jeremiah 25:26
all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces a judgment oracle against listed nations, continuing a sequence of cup-drinking warnings begun in the preceding verses. He addresses his own community and the named kingdoms, situating this declaration within a broader divine indictment of global rebellion.
The words — The Hebrew כָּל־ מַלְכֵי הַצָּפוֹן (kol malkei hatzafon) literally renders "all the kings of the north." The text explicitly orders them "near and far, each one to another" before appending the king of Sheshach to the drinking sequence.
The thread — The cryptic name Sheshach functions as a cipher for Babylon in Jeremiah 51:41, while the "families of the north" and Nebuchadnezzar are explicitly identified in Jeremiah 25:9. Isaiah 13:1 also frames a parallel judgment oracle against this same geopolitical entity.
Why it lands — The passage requires acknowledgment that no political authority operates outside divine jurisdiction, regardless of geographic proximity or historical prominence. It demands acceptance that collective judgment precedes the final target, leaving no listed kingdom exempt from the stated consequence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:41 How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
- Isaiah 47:1 “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
- Jeremiah 25:12 But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 50:1 This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:
- Ezekiel 32:30 All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there; they went down in disgrace with the slain, despite the terror of their might. They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit.
- Daniel 5:1 Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
- Habakkuk 2:16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory.
- Revelation 18:1 After this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.