“If they refuse

To accept the cup

From your hand,

Then you shall say to them,

Thus says Yahweh of hosts.

‘You must drink!

See!

I am beginning

To bring disaster

On the city

That is called by my name.

How can you possibly

Avoid punishment?

You shall not go unpunished!

I am summoning a sword

Against all the inhabitants

Of the earth.’

Says Yahweh of hosts.”

Yahweh then tells Jeremiah what to say if they refuse to drink the cup of wrath from his hand. He told Jeremiah to say that they have to drink this cup. Yahweh was already preparing a disaster for the city that bore his name, Jerusalem. How could they possibly go unpunished? Yahweh was going to bring the sword to all the people living on earth. It would be a devastating end to the world.