Jeremiah 6:6-19

Here is what YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says: “Cut down the trees and set up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is a city ripe for punishment because she is riddled with brutal oppression. As a spring pours out its fresh water, so she pours out her fresh evil. All I see are the sick and wounded; the violence and destruction within her cry out. Learn your lesson, Jerusalem, lest I turn my back on you in disgust and make the whole land desolate, a land where no one lives!” YAHWEH, the Commander of Angel Armies, says: “As one gleans the grapes that remain in a vineyard, those who remain of Israel will be gleaned. As the hand of the grape gatherer goes through the vines one last time, the Babylonians will glean what the Assyrians leave behind.” If I speak to warn the remnant of Israel, no one will listen. Their ears are blocked, and they are incapable of hearing. The word of YAHWEH has become an object of scorn; it’s no longer a pleasure for them. The fury of YAHWEH has filled me, and I am weary of trying to hold it in. “Pour it out on every child playing in the street, on the young men gathered there. Women and men alike will be taken captive, both the middle aged and those advanced in years. Strangers will seize their homes, their fields, and their wives. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land. I, YAHWEH, have spoken.” “From the smallest to the greatest, they are greedy for corrupt profits; prophet and priest alike, they all practice deceit. They treat the wounds of my people as though they were scratches. They say, ‘Peace, everything is well,’ when there is no peace, and nothing is well. Although they have acted shamefully and committed abhorrent acts, they feel no shame; they don’t even know how to blush. They will fall among the fallen and stumble in their time of reckoning, I, YAHWEH, have spoken.” YAHWEH said to his people: “Stand at the crossroads. Now, consider your ways and ask for the ancient paths. Which is God’s way? Walk on his path, and you’ll enjoy a resting place for yourselves. But they said, ‘We will not. That’s not the path we want.’ ” YAHWEH said, “I raised up prophetic watchmen to warn you: ‘Pay attention to the sound of the shofar!’ Still, they replied, ‘We will not.’ Hear well then, O nations, and observe as witnesses what’s in store for them. Hear, O earth! I am bringing a catastrophe to these people, the fruit of their own evil schemes. For they refused to listen to my words, and threw all my instructions and warnings to the wind.”