Jeremiah 6
6
Impending Destruction from the North
1“O you children of Benjamin,
Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
And set up a signal-fire in #Neh. 3:14Beth Haccerem;
#Jer. 4:6For disaster appears out of the north,
And great destruction.
2I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
3The #2 Kin. 25:1–4; Jer. 4:17; 12:10shepherds with their flocks shall come to her.
They shall pitch their tents against her all around.
Each one shall pasture in his own place.”
4“Prepare#Jer. 51:27; Joel 3:9 war against her;
Arise, and let us go up #Jer. 15:8; Zeph. 2:4at noon.
Woe to us, for the day goes away,
For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
5Arise, and let us go by night,
And let us destroy her palaces.”
6For thus has the Lord of hosts said:
“Cut down trees,
And build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
She is full of oppression in her midst.
7#Is. 57:20As a fountain wells up with water,
So she wells up with her wickedness.
#Ps. 55:9Violence and plundering are heard in her.
Before Me continually are grief and wounds.
8Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
Lest #Ezek. 23:18; Hos. 9:12My soul depart from you;
Lest I make you desolate,
A land not inhabited.”
9Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel;
As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”
10To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Indeed their #Ex. 6:12; Jer. 5:21; 7:26; (Acts 7:51)ear is uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, #Jer. 8:9; 20:8the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
11Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord.
#Jer. 20:9I am weary of holding it in.
“I will pour it out #Jer. 9:21on the children outside,
And on the assembly of young men together;
For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days.
12And #Deut. 28:30; Jer. 8:10; 38:22their houses shall be turned over to others,
Fields and wives together;
For I will stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
13“Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is given to #Is. 56:11; Jer. 8:10; 22:17covetousness;
And from the prophet even to the #Jer. 5:31; 23:11; Mic. 3:5, 11priest,
Everyone deals falsely.
14They have also #Jer. 8:11–15; Ezek. 13:10healed the hurt of My people slightly,
#Jer. 4:10; 23:17Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
15Were they #Jer. 3:3; 8:12ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
16Thus says the Lord:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the #Is. 8:20; Jer. 18:15; Mal. 4:4; Luke 16:29old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find #Matt. 11:29rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17Also, I set #Is. 21:11; 58:1; Jer. 25:4; Ezek. 3:17; Hab. 2:1watchmen over you, saying,
#Deut. 4:1‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
19#Is. 1:2Hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring #Jer. 19:3, 15calamity on this people—
#Prov. 1:31The fruit of their thoughts,
Because they have not heeded My words
Nor My law, but rejected it.
20#Ps. 40:6; 50:7–9; Is. 1:11; 66:3; Amos 5:21; Mic. 6:6, 7For what purpose to Me
Comes frankincense #Is. 60:6from Sheba,
And #Is. 43:24sweet cane from a far country?
#Jer. 7:21–23Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”
21Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,
And the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them.
The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
22Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, a people comes from the #Jer. 1:15; 10:22; 50:41–43north country,
And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
23They will lay hold on bow and spear;
They are cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice #Is. 5:30roars like the sea;
And they ride on horses,
As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”
24We have heard the report of it;
Our hands grow feeble.
#Jer. 4:31; 13:21; 49:24Anguish has taken hold of us,
Pain as of a woman in labor.
25Do not go out into the field,
Nor walk by the way.
Because of the sword of the enemy,
Fear is on every side.
26O daughter of my people,
#Jer. 4:8Dress in sackcloth
#Jer. 25:34; Mic. 1:10And roll about in ashes!
#Amos 8:10; (Zech. 12:10)Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation;
For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.
27“I have set you as an assayer and #Jer. 1:18a fortress among My people,
That you may know and test their way.
28#Jer. 5:23They are all stubborn rebels, #Jer. 9:4walking as slanderers.
They are #Ezek. 22:18bronze and iron,
They are all corrupters;
29The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
The smelter refines in vain,
For the wicked are not drawn off.
30People will call them #Is. 1:22; Jer. 7:29rejected silver,
Because the Lord has rejected them.”
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Jeremiah 6: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 6
6
A City Full of Lies
1-5“Run for your lives, children of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem, and now!
Give a blast on the ram’s horn in Blastville.
Send up smoke signals from Smoketown.
Doom pours out of the north—
massive terror!
I have likened my dear daughter Zion
to a lovely meadow.
Well, now ‘shepherds’ from the north have discovered her
and brought in their flocks of soldiers.
They’ve pitched camp all around her,
and plan where they’ll ‘graze.’
And then, ‘Prepare to attack! The fight is on!
To arms! We’ll strike at noon!
Oh, it’s too late? Day is dying?
Evening shadows are upon us?
Well, up anyway! We’ll attack by night
and tear apart her defenses stone by stone.’”
6-8 God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave the orders:
“Chop down her trees.
Build a siege ramp against Jerusalem,
A city full of brutality,
bursting with violence.
Just as a well holds a good supply of water,
she supplies wickedness nonstop.
The streets echo the cries: ‘Violence! Rape!’
Victims, bleeding and moaning, lie all over the place.
You’re in deep trouble, Jerusalem.
You’ve pushed me to the limit.
You’re on the brink of being wiped out,
being turned into a ghost town.”
9More orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Time’s up! Harvest the grapes for judgment.
Salvage what’s left of Israel.
Go back over the vines.
Pick them clean, every last grape.
Is Anybody Listening?
10-11a “I’ve got something to say. Is anybody listening?
I’ve a warning to post. Will anyone notice?
It’s hopeless! Their ears are stuffed with wax—
deaf as a post, blind as a bat.
It’s hopeless! They’ve tuned out God.
They don’t want to hear from me.
But I’m bursting with the wrath of God.
I can’t hold it in much longer.
11b-12 “So dump it on the children in the streets.
Let it loose on the gangs of youth.
For no one’s exempt: Husbands and wives will be taken,
the old and those ready to die;
Their homes will be given away—
all they own, even their loved ones—
When I give the signal
against all who live in this country.”
God’s Decree.
13-15“Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’
But things are not ‘just fine’!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
they’re finished.”
God has spoken.
Death Is on the Prowl
16-20 God’s Message yet again:
“Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, ‘Nothing doing.
We aren’t going that way.’
I even provided watchmen for them
to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm.
It doesn’t concern us.’
And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:
‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’
And, ‘Pay attention, Earth!
Don’t miss these bulletins.’
I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
of the games they’ve been playing with me.
They’ve ignored everything I’ve said,
had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
Your religious rituals mean nothing to me.”
21So listen to this. Here’s God’s verdict on your way of life:
“Watch out! I’m putting roadblocks and barriers
on the road you’re taking.
They’ll send you sprawling,
parents and children, neighbors and friends—
and that will be the end of the lot of you.”
22-23And listen to this verdict from God:
“Look out! An invasion from the north,
a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:
Armed to the teeth,
vicious and pitiless,
Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—
riding hard on war horses,
In battle formation
against you, dear Daughter Zion!”
24-25We’ve heard the news,
and we’re as limp as wet dishrags.
We’re paralyzed with fear.
Terror has a death grip on our throats.
Don’t dare go outdoors!
Don’t leave the house!
Death is on the prowl.
Danger everywhere!
26“Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
as for an only child.
The countdown has begun . . .
six, five, four, three . . .
The Terror is on us!”
* * *
27-30 God gave me this task:
“I have made you the examiner of my people,
to examine and weigh their lives.
They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It’s useless to keep trying any longer.
Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’
thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.