This basically means that you are compiled with a newer version of Java and are trying to run an older version, such as compiling with Java 7, but trying to run in a Java 6 environment.
You have 3 options.
1) Update the runtime to suit your development environment. (Make your JRE suitable for the JDK.)
2) Lower your development environment to fit your runtime environment. (Make your JDK suitable for the JRE.)
3) When compiling, use the arguments -source and -target target. So, for example, if your runtime is 1.6 and your JDK is 7, you would do something like javac -source 1.6 -target 1.6 * .java (double check the docs, I might not be completely correct).
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