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 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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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.