1The LORD says, ‘People of Benjamin, run for safety! Run away from Jerusalem! Blow trumpets in the city of Tekoa! Warn everyone in Beth Hakkerem! Horrible trouble is coming from the north. The Babylonians will destroy everything with awful power.2I will destroy the city of Zion, even though it is very beautiful.3Shepherds will come against it with their flocks. They will set up their tents around it. All of them will take care of their own sheep.’4The Babylonians say, ‘Prepare for battle against Judah! Get up! Let’s attack them at noon! But the daylight is fading. The shadows of evening are getting longer.5So get up! Let’s attack them at night! Let’s destroy their strongest forts!’6The LORD who rules over all speaks to the Babylonians. He says, ‘Cut down some trees. Use the wood to build ramps against Jerusalem’s walls. I must punish that city. It is filled with people who treat others badly.7Wells keep giving fresh water. And Jerusalem keeps on sinning. Its people are always fighting and causing trouble. When I look at them, I see nothing but disease and wounds.8Jerusalem, listen to my warning. If you do not, I will turn away from you. Your land will become a desert. No one will be able to live there.’9The LORD rules over all. He says to me, ‘People gather the few grapes left on a vine. So let Israel’s enemies gather the few people left alive in the land Look carefully at the branches again. Do this like someone who gathers the last few grapes.’10Who can I speak to? Who can I warn? Who will even listen to me? Their ears are closed so they can’t hear. The LORD’s message displeases them. They don’t take any delight in it.11But the LORD’s anger burns inside me. I can no longer hold it in. The LORD says to me, ‘Pour out my anger on the children in the street. Pour it out on the young men who are gathered together. Husband and wife alike will be caught in it. So will those who are very old.12I will reach out my hand against those who live in the land,’ announces the LORD. ‘Then their houses will be turned over to others. So will their fields and their wives.13Everyone wants to get richer and richer, from the least important of them to the most important. Prophets and priests alike try to fool everyone they can.14They bandage the wounds of my people as if they were not very deep. “Peace, peace,” they say. But there isn’t any peace.15Are they ashamed of their hateful actions? No. They do not feel any shame at all. They do not even know how to blush. So they will fall like others who have already fallen. They will be brought down when I punish them,’ says the LORD.16The LORD tells the people of Judah, ‘Stand where the roads cross, and look around. Ask where the old paths are. Ask for the good path, and walk on it. Then your hearts will find rest in me. But you said, “We won’t walk on it.”17I appointed prophets to warn you. I said, “Listen to the sound of the trumpets!” But you said, “We won’t listen.”18So pay attention, you nations. You are witnesses for me. Watch what will happen to my people.19Earth, pay attention. I am going to bring trouble on them. I will punish them because of the evil things they have done. They have not listened to my words. They have said no to my law.20What do I care about incense from the land of Sheba? Why should I bother with sweet-smelling cane from a land far away? I do not accept your burnt offerings. Your sacrifices do not please me.’21So the LORD says, ‘I will bring an army against the people of Judah. Parents and children alike will trip and fall. Neighbours and friends will die.’22The LORD says to Jerusalem, ‘Look! An army is coming from the land of the north. I am stirring up a great nation. Its army is coming from a land that is very far away.23Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all. They come riding in on their horses. They sound like the roaring ocean. They are lined up for battle. They are marching out to attack you, city of Zion.’24We have heard reports about them. And our hands can’t help us. We are suffering greatly. It’s like the pain of a woman having a baby.25Don’t go out to the fields. Don’t walk on the roads. Our enemies have swords. And there is terror on every side.26My people, put on the clothes of sadness. Roll among the ashes. Mourn with bitter weeping just as you would mourn for an only son. The one who is going to destroy us will come suddenly.27The LORD says to me, ‘I have made you like one who tests metals. My people are the ore. I want you to watch them and test the way they live.28All of them are used to disobeying me. They go around telling lies about others. They are like bronze mixed with iron. All of them do very sinful things.29The fire is made very hot so the lead will burn away. But it is impossible to make these people pure. Those who are evil are not removed.30They are like silver that is thrown away. That is because I have not accepted them.’
Jeremiah 6
English Standard Version
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
1Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction. (Jud 1:21; 2Sa 14:2; Ne 3:14; Jer 1:14)2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion.[1] (2Ki 19:21)3Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place. (Jer 4:17; Jer 23:1)4“Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen! (Jer 15:8; Jer 22:7; Jer 51:27; Joe 3:9)5Arise, and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!”6For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. (De 20:20; 2Ki 19:32; Isa 37:33; Eze 26:8; Lu 19:43; Lu 19:44)7As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me. (Ps 55:9; Isa 57:20; Eze 7:11; Eze 7:23)8Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” (Jer 4:7; Eze 23:18; Ho 9:12)9Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.” (De 24:21)10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. (Ex 6:12; Isa 28:9; Isa 53:1; Jer 7:26; Jer 20:8; Ac 7:51)11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged. (Jer 8:9; Jer 9:21; Jer 20:9; La 2:21)12Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord. (Jer 8:10)13“For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. (Isa 56:11; Jer 5:31; Jer 14:18; Jer 23:11; Jer 31:34; Jer 44:12; Jon 3:5; Mic 3:11)14They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:21; Jer 4:10; Jer 14:13; Jer 23:17; Eze 7:25; Eze 13:10; Mic 3:5; Joh 14:27)15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord. (Jer 3:3; Jer 6:6; Jer 8:12)16Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Ps 116:7; Isa 8:20; Jer 18:15; Mal 4:4; Mt 11:29; Lu 16:29)17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ (Isa 21:11; Isa 56:10; Isa 58:1; Jer 4:19; Jer 44:16)18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. (Pr 1:31)20What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. (1Ki 10:1; Ps 40:6; Isa 1:11; Isa 43:23; Isa 60:6; Jer 7:21; Jer 14:12; Am 5:21)21Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.’” (Eze 3:20)22Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. (Jer 1:13; Jer 25:32; Jer 31:8; Jer 50:41)23They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!” (Isa 13:9; Isa 13:18; Isa 17:12)24We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. (2Sa 4:1; Isa 13:8; Jer 38:4; Jer 49:24; Eze 7:17; Eze 21:7)25Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side. (Job 18:11; Ps 31:13; La 2:22)26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. (Es 4:1; Jer 4:8; Jer 25:34; La 3:16; Eze 27:30; Am 8:10; Mic 1:10; Zec 12:10)27“I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways. (Jer 1:18; Jer 9:7)28They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly. (Le 19:16; Jer 5:23; Jer 9:4; Eze 22:18; Eze 22:20)29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. (Isa 1:25; Jer 6:28)30Rejected silver they are called, for the Lord has rejected them.” (Isa 1:22; Eze 22:19)