Jeremiah 6
6
Threatened Siege of Jerusalem
1“Run for cover#Ex 9:19; Is 10:31; Jr 4:6
out of Jerusalem, Benjaminites.
Sound the ram’s horn#Jr 4:5; 51:27; Am 3:6 in Tekoa;#2Sm 14:2; 2Ch 11:6; 20:20
raise a smoke signal#Jdg 20:38,40; Neh 3:14 over Beth-haccherem,#6:1 = House of the Vineyard
for disaster threatens from the north,#Jr 1:13; 4:6,20; 6:22; 15:12; 47:2; 50:3,9,41; 51:48
even a crushing blow.
2Though she is beautiful and delicate,
I will destroy#6:2 Or silence Daughter Zion.
3Shepherds and their flocks will come against her;
they will pitch their tents all around her.#Jr 4:17
Each will pasture his own portion.
4Set them apart for war#Jr 51:27; Mc 3:5 against her;
rise up, let’s attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the day is passing;
the evening shadows grow long.
5Rise up, let’s attack by night.
Let’s destroy her fortresses.”
6For this is what the Lord of Armies says:
Cut down the trees;#Dt 20:19–20
raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished.
There is nothing but oppression within her.#Is 30:12; 59:9–15; Jr 22:17; Ezk 22:7,12,29; Am 3:9; Hab 1:3
7As a well gushes out its water,
so she pours out her evil.#6:7 Or well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh
Violence and destruction#Jr 20:8; Am 3:10; Hab 1:3 resound in her.
Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.
8Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;#Ezk 23:18; Hs 9:12
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants.#Jr 9:11; 25:9; 29:18; 34:22; Ezk 30:12
Wrath on Israel
9This is what the Lord of Armies says:
Glean the remnant of Israel#Is 10:20; Jr 31:7; Ezk 9:8; 11:13; Mc 2:12; Zph 3:13
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer
over the branches.
10Who can I speak to and give such a warning#6:10 Or and bear witness
that they will listen?
Look, their ear is uncircumcised,#6:10 They are unresponsive to God.#Lv 26:41; Jr 9:26; Ezk 44:7,9
so they cannot pay attention.
See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them —
they find no pleasure in it.#1Sm 15:23; Jr 8:9
11But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;
I am tired of holding it back.#Jr 20:9; Hs 5:10
Pour it out on the children in the street,#Jr 9:21
on the gathering of young men as well.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old with the very old.#6:11 Lit with fullness of days
12Their houses will be turned over to others,#Jr 8:10–12
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out my hand#Ex 3:20; Jr 15:6; Ezk 6:14; 14:13; 25:7; Zph 1:4
against the inhabitants of the land.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13For from the least to the greatest of them,#Est 1:20; Jr 8:10; 31:34; 42:1,8; 44:12
everyone is making profit dishonestly.#Pr 1:19; 15:27; Hab 2:9
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.#Jr 5:31; 8:10; 14:14; 20:6; 23:14,25–26,32; 27:10,14–16; 28:15; 29:9,21,31; Lm 2:14; Zch 13:3
14They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially,
claiming, “Peace, peace,”#1Ch 12:18; Is 57:19
when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.#Jr 3:3; 8:12
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,#Jr 8:10–12
says the Lord.
Disaster because of Disobedience
16This is what the Lord says:
Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths,#Is 59:8; Jr 18:15; Jb 24:13; Pr 8:20; 12:28
“Which is the way to what is good?”
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves.#Mt 11:29
But they protested, “We won’t!”
17I appointed watchmen over you#Is 21:11; 58:1; Hs 9:8
and said, “Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.”
But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
18Therefore listen, you nations
and you witnesses,
learn what the charge is against them.
19Listen, earth!
I am about to bring disaster on these people,
the fruit of their own plotting,#Pr 1:31
for they have paid no attention to my words.
They have rejected my instruction.#Is 5:24; Jr 23:17
20What use to me is frankincense from Sheba#1Kg 10:1; Is 60:6
or sweet cane#Ex 30:23; Is 43:24; Ezk 27:19 from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please me.#Ps 40:6; Is 1:11; 43:23; 66:3; Hs 9:4; Am 5:21; Mc 6:6; Mal 1:10
21Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them;#Is 8:15; Jr 31:9; Ezk 7:19
friends and neighbors will also perish.
A Cruel Nation from the North
22This is what the Lord says:
Look,#Jr 50:41–43 an army is coming from a northern land;#Jr 50:41–43
a great nation will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.#Jr 25:32; 31:8
23They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy.#Is 13:18; Jr 50:42; Hab 1:6–17
Their voice roars like the sea,#Is 5:30; 17:12
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24We have heard about it,
and our hands have become weak.
Distress has seized us —
pain, like a woman in labor.#Ps 48:6; Is 13:8; 21:3; 42:14; Jr 4:31; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 50:43; Mc 4:9–10; 1Th 5:3
25Don’t go out to the fields;
don’t walk on the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.#Ps 31:13; Jr 20:3,10; 49:29
26My dear#6:26 Lit Daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust.#Jr 25:34; Ezk 27:30; Mc 1:10
Mourn as you would for an only son,#Am 8:10
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer#Ex 12:23; Is 21:2; 54:16; Jr 48:8,15,18,32; 1Co 10:10; Heb 11:28 will come on us.#Is 47:11; Jr 4:20; 15:8
Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner
27I have appointed you to be an assayer among my people —
a refiner#6:27 Text emended; MT reads fortress —
so you may know and assay their way of life.#1Ch 29:17; Ps 7:9; Pr 17:3
28All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander.#Lv 19:16; Pr 11:13; 20:19; Is 1:23
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.#2Ch 27:2; Is 1:4
29The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
30They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them.#1Sm 15:23,26; Jr 2:37; 7:29
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Jeremiah 6: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Jeremiah 6
6
The Enemy at the Gates
1Seek refuge, Benjaminites,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
raise a signal over Beth-haccherem;
For disaster threatens from the north,
and mighty destruction.#Jer 1:14–15.
2Lovely and delicate
daughter Zion, you are ruined!
3Against her, shepherds come with their flocks;#Shepherds come with their flocks: foreign invaders with their armies.
all around, they pitch their tents against her;
each one grazes his portion.#Jer 4:17.
4“Prepare for war against her,
Up! let us rush upon her at midday!”
“Woe to us! the day is waning,
evening shadows lengthen!”
5“Up! let us rush upon her by night,
destroy her palaces!”#2 Chr 36:19.
6For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Hew down her trees,
throw up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
Woe to the city marked for punishment;
there is nothing but oppression within her!#Jer 32:24; Zep 3:1–4.
7As a well keeps its waters fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
ever before me are wounds and blows.#Is 57:20.
8Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will be estranged from you,
And I will turn you into a wilderness,
a land where no one dwells.
9Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean, glean like a vine
the remnant of Israel;
Pass your hand, like a vintager,
repeatedly over the tendrils.
10To whom shall I speak?
whom shall I warn, and be heard?
See! their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot pay attention;
See, the word of the Lord has become for them
an object of scorn, for which they have no taste.#Jer 7:26; 20:8.
11But the wrath of the Lord brims up within me,
I am weary of holding it in.
I will pour it out upon the child in the street,
upon the young men gathered together.
Yes, husband and wife will be taken,
elder with ancient.#Ez 9:6.
12Their houses will fall to others,
their fields and their wives as well;
For I will stretch forth my hand
against those who dwell in the land—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 8:10; Dt 28:30–32.
13Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain;
prophet and priest, all practice fraud.#Jer 8:10; 23:11.
14They have treated lightly
the injury to my people:
“Peace, peace!” they say,
though there is no peace.#Jer 8:11.
15They have acted shamefully, committing abominations,
yet they are not at all ashamed,
they do not know how to blush.
Therefore they will fall among the fallen;
in the time of their punishment they shall stumble,
says the Lord.#Jer 3:3; 8:12.
16Thus says the Lord:
Stand by the earliest roads,
ask the pathways of old,#Pathways of old: history and the lessons to be learned from it.
“Which is the way to good?” and walk it;
thus you will find rest for yourselves.
But they said, “We will not walk it.”#Jer 7:23–24; 18:15.
17I raised up watchmen#Watchmen: the prophets who, like Jeremiah, had upheld God’s moral law. for them:
“Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O earth,
what I will do with them:
19See, I bring evil upon this people,
the fruit of their own schemes,
Because they did not pay attention to my words,
because they rejected my law.#Prv 1:31.
20Of what use to me is incense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from far-off lands?
Your burnt offerings find no favor with me,
your sacrifices do not please me.#Is 1:11; 43:24.
21Therefore, thus says the Lord:
See, I will place before this people
obstacles to trip them up;
Parents and children alike,
neighbors and friends shall perish.#Is 8:14–15.
22Thus says the Lord:
See, a people comes from the land of the north,
a great nation, rising from the very ends of the earth.#Jer 1:15; 5:15.
23Bow and javelin they wield;
cruel and pitiless are they.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride forth on horses,
Each in his place for battle
against you, daughter Zion.
24We hear news of them;
our hands hang helpless,
Anguish takes hold of us,
pangs like a woman in childbirth.#Jer 4:31.
25Do not go out into the field,
do not step into the street,
For the enemy has a sword;
terror on every side!
26Daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth,
roll in the ashes.
Mourn as for an only child
with bitter wailing:
“How suddenly the destroyer
comes upon us!”#Jer 25:34; Am 8:10.
27#God appoints Jeremiah to be a “tester” of his people. The passage uses the metaphor of the refining of silver: the silver was extracted from lead ore, but the process in ancient times was inexact, so that sometimes all that was left was a scummy mess, to be thrown out. A tester for my people I have appointed you,
to search and test their way.#Jer 1:18.
28Arch-rebels are they all,
dealers in slander,
bronze and iron, all of them,
destroyers they are.
29The bellows are scorched,
the lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain has the refiner refined,
the wicked are not drawn off.
30“Silver rejected” they shall be called,
for the Lord has rejected them.
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