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
Jeremiah 6
6
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
1Flee for safety, #[Judg. 1:21] O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in #See 2 Sam. 14:2 Tekoa,
and raise a signal on #Neh. 3:14 Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms #See ch. 1:14out of the north,
and great destruction.
2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
# See 2 Kgs. 19:21 the daughter of Zion.#6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture
3 # [ch. 23:1] Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
# ch. 4:17 they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 # ch. 22:7; Joel 3:9; [ch. 51:27] “Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack #ch. 15:8at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6For thus says the Lord of hosts:
# [Deut. 20:20] “Cut down her trees;
#
2 Kgs. 19:32; Isa. 37:33; Ezek. 26:8; Luke 19:43 cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be #Luke 19:44punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 #
Isa. 57:20 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
#
Ps. 55:9; Ezek. 7:11, 23 violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8Be warned, O Jerusalem,
#
Ezek. 23:18; [Hos. 9:12] lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you #See ch. 4:7a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9Thus says the Lord of hosts:
# [Deut. 24:21] “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 #
Isa. 28:9; 53:1 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
# [Ex. 6:12; Acts 7:51] Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
# ch. 7:26 they cannot listen;
behold, #ch. 20:8the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
# ch. 20:9 I am weary of holding it in.
# ch. 9:21 “Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
# [Lam. 2:21] both husband and wife #ch. 8:9shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 # For ver. 12-15, see ch. 8:10-12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 # [ch. 31:34; 44:12; Jonah 3:5] “For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone #Isa. 56:11 is greedy for unjust gain;
and from #ch. 14:18; 23:11; Mic. 3:11; See ch. 5:31prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, #ch. 4:10; 14:13; 23:17; Ezek. 13:10; Mic. 3:5; [John 14:27] ‘Peace, peace,’
#
Isa. 48:22; 57:21; Ezek. 7:25 when there is no peace.
15 # [ch. 3:3; 8:12] Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
# [ver. 6] at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.
16Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for #ch. 18:15; [Isa. 8:20; Mal. 4:4; Luke 16:29] the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
#
Matt. 11:29; [Ps. 116:7] and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 #
Isa. 56:10; [Isa. 21:11] I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to #Isa. 58:1; [ch. 4:19] the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, #ch. 44:16‘We will not pay attention.’
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
#
Prov. 1:31
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 #
Isa. 1:11 What use to me is #Isa. 43:23; 60:6 frankincense that comes from #See 1 Kgs. 10:1 Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
# ch. 7:21, 22; 14:12; Ps. 40:6; Isa. 1:11; Amos 5:21 Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus says the Lord:
#
Ezek. 3:20
‘Behold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22Thus says the Lord:
# For ver. 22-24, see ch. 50:41-43 “Behold, a people is coming #See ch. 1:13 from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from #ch. 25:32; 31:8the farthest parts of the earth.
23They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are #Isa. 13:9, 18 cruel and have no mercy;
#
Isa. 17:12
the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
set in array as a man for battle,
against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24We have heard the report of it;
# ch. 38:4; 49:24; Ezek. 21:7; See 2 Sam. 4:1; Ezek. 7:17 our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
# See Isa. 13:8 pain as of a woman in labor.
25Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
#
Ps. 31:13; Lam. 2:22; [Job 18:11] terror is on every side.
26O daughter of my people, #See ch. 4:8; Esth. 4:1 put on sackcloth,
and #ch. 25:34; Ezek. 27:30; [Lam. 3:16; Mic. 1:10] roll in ashes;
#
Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10 make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27“I have made you #[ch. 1:18] a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and #ch. 9:7test their ways.
28 # ch. 5:23 They are all stubbornly rebellious,
# ch. 9:4; [Lev. 19:16] going about with slanders;
they are #Ezek. 22:18, 20bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
29The #[See ver. 28 above] bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
# [Isa. 1:25] in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30 #
Isa. 1:22; Ezek. 22:19, 20 Rejected silver they are called,
for the Lord has rejected them.”
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