Jeremiah’s Message to Seraiah

In the fourth year of Zedekiah, Jeremiah gives Seraiah son of Neriah a scroll containing all the disaster written against Babylon. When Seraiah reaches Babylon he is to read the words aloud, appeal to the LORD's own promise that the place will become permanently desolate, and then sink the scroll in the Euphrates with a stone tied to it. The sign interprets itself: just as the scroll sinks, so Babylon will sink under the LORD's judgment and never rise again.

T⁵⁹his is the message that Jeremiah the prophet gave to the quartermaster Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ⁶⁰Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon — all these words that had been written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud, ⁶²and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain — neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’ ⁶³When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates. ⁶⁴Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’”