“For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 25:15 Mean?
God gives Jeremiah a dramatic prophetic assignment: take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. The image is of a cup filled with God's wrath, handed directly from God to the prophet, to be administered to the nations.
The wine cup of this fury — wine in prophetic imagery often represents God's judgment. The cup is not a gentle beverage. It is fury (chemah) — burning anger, wrath, poison. The cup contains the concentrated judgment of God against the nations' sins.
At my hand — the cup comes from God directly. This is not arbitrary catastrophe. It is divinely administered judgment, personally handed from God to his prophet for distribution.
Cause all the nations to drink it — the judgment is universal. Verses 17-26 list the nations: Jerusalem and Judah first, then Egypt, Uz, Philistia, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, Arabia, Elam, Media, and finally 'the king of Sheshach' (Babylon) — v.26. Everyone drinks. No nation is exempt. Even Babylon, God's instrument of judgment against others, eventually drinks the same cup.
Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: let this cup pass from me (Matthew 26:39). The cup imagery connects: the cup of God's fury that the nations deserve was drunk by Christ on the cross. What Jeremiah administered symbolically, Jesus absorbed personally.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does the image of God personally handing the cup of fury to Jeremiah reveal about the nature of divine judgment?
- 2.How does the universal scope — all nations, including Babylon — challenge the idea that judgment is only for 'the bad ones'?
- 3.How does Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane ('let this cup pass') connect to Jeremiah's cup of fury?
- 4.What does it mean for you that the cup of wrath meant for you was drunk by someone else?
Devotional
Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand. God hands Jeremiah a cup. Not a cup of blessing. A cup of fury — burning, concentrated divine wrath against sin. And Jeremiah's job is to make the nations drink it.
Cause all the nations to drink it. All. Not just Israel's enemies. All nations — including Jerusalem and Judah (v.18). God's judgment is not selective in the way we might prefer. It reaches everyone. The cup goes around the table, and every nation takes a drink.
The list in verses 17-26 is staggering. Egypt. Philistia. Edom. Moab. Tyre. Arabia. And finally Babylon itself — the nation God used to punish others also drinks the cup of fury. Nobody escapes. Nobody is exempt. The cup goes around until every nation has tasted God's judgment against sin.
But here is where the gospel enters: in Gethsemane, Jesus took the cup. Let this cup pass from me — he prayed, knowing exactly what the cup contained. The same fury. The same wrath. The same burning judgment that Jeremiah administered to the nations — Jesus drank alone. On the cross, he consumed the cup of divine fury so that you would not have to.
The cup that was meant for you has been emptied. Not because your sin was not real. Because someone else drank it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me,.... The prophet:
take the wine cup of this fury at my hand; in a vision…
Saith - Or, hath said. This prophecy - placed by the Septuagint after those against the nations - forms an impressive…
Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal…
The wine-cup of the Lord's fury to be drunk by all the nations.
For confusion and dismay, expressed under the figure of…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture