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
Jeremias (Jeremiah) 6
6
1Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.
2I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate woman.
3The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand.
4Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday. Woe unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are grown longer.
5Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.
6For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a trench about Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited all oppression is in the midst of her.
7As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold. Violence and spoil shall be heard in her: infirmity and stripes are continually before me.
8Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.
9Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a grape-gatherer into the basket.
10To whom shall I speak? And to whom shall I testify, that he may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hear, Behold, the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and they will not receive it.
11Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the child abroad and upon the council of the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient and he that is full of days.
12And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch for my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
13For, from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit.
14And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace. And there was no peace.
15They were confounded, because they committed abomination: yea rather, they were not confounded with confusion and they knew not how to blush. Wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.
16Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: We will not walk.
17And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.
18Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great things I will do to them.
19Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evils upon this people, the fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words and they have cast away my law.
20To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the sweet smelling cane from a far country? Your holocausts are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall, neighbor and kinsman shall perish.
22Thus saith the Lord: Behold, a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.
23They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel and will have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion.
24We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labor.
25Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
26Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt know, and prove their way.
28All of these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they are brass and iron, they are all corrupted.
29The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.
30Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.