Jeremiah 6
6
A warning for the people of Jerusalem
The LORD said:
1Run for your lives,
people of Benjamin.
Get out of Jerusalem.
Sound a trumpet in Tekoa
and light a signal fire
in Beth-Haccherem.
Soon you will be struck
by disaster from the north.
2-3Jerusalem is a lovely pasture,
but shepherds will surround it
and divide it up,
then let their flocks
eat all the grass.#6.2,3 Jerusalem…grass: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4Kings will tell their troops,
“If we reach Jerusalem
in the morning,
we'll attack at midday.
But if we arrive later,
5we'll attack after dark
and destroy its fortresses.”
6I am the LORD All-Powerful,
and I will command these armies
to chop down trees
and build a ramp up to the walls
of Jerusalem.
People of Jerusalem,
I must punish you
for your injustice.
7Evil pours from your city
like water from a spring.
Sounds of violent crimes
echo within your walls;
victims are everywhere,
wounded and dying.
8Listen to me,
you people of Jerusalem
and Judah.
I will abandon you,
and your land will become
an empty desert.
9I will tell your enemies
to leave your nation bare
like a vine stripped of grapes.
I, the LORD All-Powerful,
have spoken.
Jeremiah's anger
10I have told the people
that you, LORD,
will punish them,
but they just laugh
and refuse to listen.
11Your anger against Judah
flames up inside me,
and I can't hold it in
much longer.
The LORD's anger will sweep everyone away
The LORD answered:
Don't hold back my anger!
Let it sweep away everyone—
the children at play
and all adults,
young and old alike.
12I'll punish the people of Judah#Jr 8.10-12.
and give to others
their houses and fields,
as well as their wives.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
13Everyone is greedy and dishonest,
whether poor or rich.
Even the prophets and priests
cannot be trusted.
14All they ever offer#Ez 13.10.
to my deeply wounded people
are empty hopes for peace.
15They should be ashamed
of their disgusting sins,
but they don't even blush.
And so, when I punish Judah,
they will end up on the ground,
dead like everyone else.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
The people of Judah rejected God's way of life
16The LORD said:
My people, when you stood
at the crossroads,
I told you, “Follow the road
your ancestors took,
and you will find peace.”
But you refused.
17I also sent prophets
to warn you of danger,
but when they sounded the alarm,
you paid no attention.
18-19So I tell all nations on earth,
“Watch what I will do!
My people ignored me
and rejected my laws.
They planned to do evil,
and now the evil they planned
will happen to them.”
20People of Judah,
you bring me incense from Sheba
and spices from distant lands.
You offer sacrifices of all kinds.
But why bother?
I hate these gifts of yours!
21So I will put stumbling blocks
in your path,
and everyone will die,
including parents and children,
neighbours and friends.
An army from the north
22The LORD said,
“Look towards the north,
where a powerful nation
has prepared for war.
23Its well armed troops are cruel
and never show mercy.
Their galloping horses sound
like ocean waves
pounding on the shore.
This army will attack you,
lovely Jerusalem.”
24Then the people said,
“Just hearing about them
makes us tremble with fear,
and we twist and turn in pain
like a woman giving birth.”
25The LORD said,
“Don't work in your fields
or walk along the roads.
It's too dangerous.
The enemy is well armed
26and attacks without warning.
So mourn, my people, as though
your only child had died.
Wear clothes made of sackcloth#6.26 sackcloth: See the note at 4.8.
and roll in the ash heap.”
The LORD's people must be tested
The LORD said:
27Jeremiah, test my people
as though they were metal.
28And you'll find they are hard
like bronze and iron.
They are stubborn rebels,
always spreading lies.
29-30Silver can be purified
in a fiery furnace,
but my people are too wicked
to be made pure,
and so I have rejected them.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 6
6
1“O children of Binyamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Yerushalayim! Blow a shophar in Teqowa, and set up a signal-fire in Bĕyth Hakkerem, for evil has been seen from the north, and great destruction.
2“I shall cut off the lovely and delicate one, the daughter of Tsiyon.
3“The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her, they shall pitch their tents against her all around. They shall pasture, each one in his own place.”
4“Set apart battle against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
5“Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.”
6For thus said יהוה of hosts, “Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege mound against Yerushalayim. She is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression.
7“As a well flows with water, so she flows with her evil. Violence and destruction are heard in her. Before Me continually are suffering and smiting.
8“Be instructed, O Yerushalayim, lest My being be torn from you, lest I make you a waste, a land not inhabited.”
9Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Let them thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Yisra’ĕl; pass your hand again over the branches like a grape-gatherer.”
10To whom shall I speak and give warning, so that they hear? See, their ear is uncircumcised, and they are unable to listen. See, the word of יהוה is a reproach to them, they do not delight in it.
11Therefore I am filled with the wrath of יהוה. I have become weary of containing it. “Pour it out on the children outside, and on the company of young men together, for even husband and wife shall be taken, the aged and the very old.
12“And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together. For I shall stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares יהוה.
13“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, they are all greedy for gain. And from the prophet even to the priest, all act falsely.
14“And they heal the breach of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they had done abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. They shall stumble at the time I visit them,” said יהוה.
16Thus said יהוה, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and find rest for yourselves. But they said, ‘We do not walk in it.’
17“And I raised up watchmen over you, and said, ‘Listen to a voice of a shophar!’ But they said, ‘We do not listen.’
18“Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is upon them!
19“Hear, O earth! See, I am bringing evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My words, nor My Torah – and they rejected it.
20“What need have I of frankincense from Sheḇa, and sweet cane from a distant land? Your ascending offerings are not acceptable, and your slaughterings have not been sweet to Me.”
21Therefore thus said יהוה, “See, I am laying stumbling-blocks before this people. And the fathers and the sons together shall stumble on them, the neighbour and his friend shall perish.”
22Thus said יהוה, “See, a people shall come from the land of the north, and a great nation is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth,
23they strengthen their bow and spear, they are cruel and have no compassion, their voice roars like the sea. And they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Tsiyon.”
24We have heard the report of it, our hands grow weak. Distress has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labour.
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, gird on sackcloth, and roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation because suddenly the ravager shall come upon us.
27“I have made you a trier and a stronghold among My people, so that you know, and shall try their way.
28“All of them are rebels of rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, all of them are corrupters.
29“The bellows have burned, the lead has been consumed by fire. The refiner has refined in vain, for those who are evil have not been separated.
30“They shall call them rejected silver, because יהוה has rejected them.”
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