Jeremiah 6
6
Jerusalem Is Surrounded
1“Run for your lives, people of Benjamin!
Run away from Jerusalem!
Blow the war trumpet in the town of Tekoa!
Raise the warning flag over the town of Beth Hakkerem!
Disaster is coming from the north.
Terrible destruction is coming to you.
2Jerusalem, I will destroy you.
You are fragile and gentle.
3Shepherds with their flocks will come against Jerusalem.
They will set up their tents all around her.
Each shepherd will take care of his own section.”
4They say, “Get ready to fight against Jerusalem!
Get up! We will attack at noon!
But it is already getting late.
The evening shadows are growing long.
5So get up! We will attack at night.
We will destroy the strong towers of Jerusalem!”
6This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“Cut down the trees around Jerusalem.
Build an attack ramp to the top of Jerusalem’s walls.
This city must be punished!
Inside this city is nothing but slavery.
7Jerusalem pours out her evil
as a well pours out its water.
The sounds of violence and destruction are heard within her.
I can see the sickness and hurts of Jerusalem.
8Listen to this warning, Jerusalem.
If you don’t listen, I will turn my back on you.
I will make your land an empty desert.
No one will be able to live there!”
9This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“Gather the few people of Israel who are left alive.
Gather them as you would the last grapes on a grapevine.
Check each vine again,
like someone who gathers grapes.”
10To whom can I speak? Whom can I warn?
Who will listen to me?
The people of Israel have closed ears!
So they cannot hear my warnings.
They don’t like the word of the Lord.
They don’t want to listen to it!
11But I am full of the anger of the Lord.
I am tired of holding it in.
“Pour out the Lord’s anger on the children who play in the street.
Pour it out on the young men gathered together.
A husband and his wife will both be caught in his anger.
The very old people will be caught in it.
12Their houses will be turned over to others.
Their fields and wives will be given away.
I will raise my hand
and punish the people of Judah,” says the Lord.
13“Everyone, from the least important to the greatest,
is greedy for money.
Even the prophets and priests
all tell lies.
14They try to heal my people’s serious injuries
as if they were small wounds.
They say, ‘It’s all right, it’s all right!’
But really, it is not all right.
15They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act.
But they are not ashamed at all.
They don’t even know how to blush about their sins.
So they will fall, along with everyone else.
They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them,” says the Lord.
16This is what the Lord says:
“Stand where the roads cross and look.
Ask where the old way is.
Ask where the good way is, and walk on it.
If you do, you will find rest for yourselves.
But you have said, ‘We will not walk on the good way!’
17I chose watchmen to watch over you.
I told you, ‘Listen for the sound of the war trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
18So listen, all you nations.
Pay attention, you witnesses.
Watch what I will do to the people of Judah.
19Hear this, people of the earth:
I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah!
It will happen because of the evil they plan.
They have not listened to my messages.
They have rejected my teachings.
20Why do you bring me offerings of incense from the land of Sheba?
Why do you bring me sweet-smelling cane from a faraway land?
Your burnt offerings will not be accepted.
Your sacrifices do not please me.”
21So this is what the Lord says:
“I will put problems in front of Judah.
Fathers and sons will stumble over them.
Neighbors and friends will die.”
22This is what the Lord says:
“Look, an army is coming
from the land of the north.
A great nation is coming
from the far sides of the earth.
23The soldiers carry bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring ocean
when they ride their horses.
That army is coming lined up for battle.
It is coming to attack you, Jerusalem.”
24We have heard the news about that army.
We are helpless from fear.
We feel trapped by our troubles.
We are in pain like a woman having a baby.
25Don’t go out into the fields.
Don’t walk down the roads!
This is because the enemy has swords.
There is terror on every side.
26My people, put on rough cloth
and roll in the ashes to show how sad you are.
Cry loudly for those who are dead.
Cry as if your only son had died.
Do it because the destroyer
will soon come against us.
27“Jeremiah, I have made you like a worker who tests metal.
And my people are like the ore for the metal.
You must observe their ways.
And you must test them.
28My people have turned against me and are stubborn.
They go around telling lies about people.
They are like bronze and iron,
that became covered with rust.
29The fire is fanned to make it hotter.
But the lead does not melt.
The pure silver does not come out.
And the evil is not removed from my people.
30My people will be called rejected silver.
They will be given that name because the Lord has rejected them.”
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Jeremiah 6: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 6
6
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
1Flee for safety, #[Judg. 1:21] O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in #See 2 Sam. 14:2 Tekoa,
and raise a signal on #Neh. 3:14 Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms #See ch. 1:14out of the north,
and great destruction.
2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
# See 2 Kgs. 19:21 the daughter of Zion.#6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture
3 # [ch. 23:1] Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
# ch. 4:17 they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 # ch. 22:7; Joel 3:9; [ch. 51:27] “Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack #ch. 15:8at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6For thus says the Lord of hosts:
# [Deut. 20:20] “Cut down her trees;
#
2 Kgs. 19:32; Isa. 37:33; Ezek. 26:8; Luke 19:43 cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be #Luke 19:44punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 #
Isa. 57:20 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
#
Ps. 55:9; Ezek. 7:11, 23 violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8Be warned, O Jerusalem,
#
Ezek. 23:18; [Hos. 9:12] lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you #See ch. 4:7a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9Thus says the Lord of hosts:
# [Deut. 24:21] “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 #
Isa. 28:9; 53:1 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
# [Ex. 6:12; Acts 7:51] Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
# ch. 7:26 they cannot listen;
behold, #ch. 20:8the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
# ch. 20:9 I am weary of holding it in.
# ch. 9:21 “Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
# [Lam. 2:21] both husband and wife #ch. 8:9shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 # For ver. 12-15, see ch. 8:10-12 Their 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.
13 # [ch. 31:34; 44:12; Jonah 3:5] “For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone #Isa. 56:11 is greedy for unjust gain;
and from #ch. 14:18; 23:11; Mic. 3:11; See ch. 5:31prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, #ch. 4:10; 14:13; 23:17; Ezek. 13:10; Mic. 3:5; [John 14:27] ‘Peace, peace,’
#
Isa. 48:22; 57:21; Ezek. 7:25 when there is no peace.
15 # [ch. 3:3; 8:12] Were 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;
# [ver. 6] at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.
16Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for #ch. 18:15; [Isa. 8:20; Mal. 4:4; Luke 16:29] the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
#
Matt. 11:29; [Ps. 116:7] and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 #
Isa. 56:10; [Isa. 21:11] I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to #Isa. 58:1; [ch. 4:19] the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, #ch. 44:16‘We will not pay attention.’
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
#
Prov. 1:31
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 #
Isa. 1:11 What use to me is #Isa. 43:23; 60:6 frankincense that comes from #See 1 Kgs. 10:1 Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
# ch. 7:21, 22; 14:12; Ps. 40:6; Isa. 1:11; Amos 5:21 Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus says the Lord:
#
Ezek. 3:20
‘Behold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22Thus says the Lord:
# For ver. 22-24, see ch. 50:41-43 “Behold, a people is coming #See ch. 1:13 from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from #ch. 25:32; 31:8the farthest parts of the earth.
23They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are #Isa. 13:9, 18 cruel and have no mercy;
#
Isa. 17:12
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!”
24We have heard the report of it;
# ch. 38:4; 49:24; Ezek. 21:7; See 2 Sam. 4:1; Ezek. 7:17 our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
# See Isa. 13:8 pain as of a woman in labor.
25Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
#
Ps. 31:13; Lam. 2:22; [Job 18:11] terror is on every side.
26O daughter of my people, #See ch. 4:8; Esth. 4:1 put on sackcloth,
and #ch. 25:34; Ezek. 27:30; [Lam. 3:16; Mic. 1:10] roll in ashes;
#
Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10 make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27“I have made you #[ch. 1:18] a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and #ch. 9:7test their ways.
28 # ch. 5:23 They are all stubbornly rebellious,
# ch. 9:4; [Lev. 19:16] going about with slanders;
they are #Ezek. 22:18, 20bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
29The #[See ver. 28 above] bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
# [Isa. 1:25] in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30 #
Isa. 1:22; Ezek. 22:19, 20 Rejected silver they are called,
for the Lord has rejected them.”
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