Jeremiah 6
6
The Enemy Surrounds Jerusalem
1“Run for your lives, people of Benjamin!
Run away from the city of Jerusalem!
Blow the war trumpet in the city of Tekoa!
Put up the warning flag in the city of Beth Hakkerem!
Do these things because disaster is coming from the north.#6:1 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
Terrible destruction is coming to you.
2Jerusalem,#6:2 Jerusalem Literally, “daughter Zion.” See “Zion” in the Word List. you are like a beautiful meadow.#6:2 you are like a beautiful meadow The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
But I will destroy you!
3Enemy shepherds will surround you
with all their flocks.
They will set up their tents all around you,
and each one will let his sheep eat the grass.
4“Get ready to fight against Jerusalem.
Get up! We will attack the city at noon.
But it is already getting late.
The evening shadows are growing long.
5So get up! We will attack the city at night!
Let’s destroy the strong walls that are around Jerusalem.”
6This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Cut down the trees around Jerusalem,
and build a siege mound#6:6 siege mound A large pile of dirt and rock that an army put against the wall of a city they were attacking. This made it easier for the enemy soldiers to climb over the wall into the city. against it.
This city should be punished
because inside there is no justice—only slavery.
7As a well keeps its water fresh,
so Jerusalem keeps its wickedness fresh.
I hear about the robbing and violence in this city all the time.
I see nothing but pain and sickness there all the time.
8Listen to this warning, Jerusalem,
or I will turn my back on you.
I will make your land an empty desert.
No one will be able to live there.”
9This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:
“Gather#6:9 Gather Or “glean.” There was a law that a farmer must leave some grain in his field during harvest, so that poor people and travelers could find something to eat. See Lev. 19:9; 23:22. the people of Israel who were left on their land.
Gather them the way you would gather the last grapes on a grapevine.
Check each vine,
like the workers check each vine when they pick the grapes.”
10Who can I speak to?
Who can I warn?
Who will listen to me?
The people of Israel have closed their ears,
so they cannot hear my warnings.
They don’t like the Lord’s teachings.
They don’t want to hear his message.
11But I am full of the Lord’s anger,
and I am tired of holding it in!
“Pour out my anger on the children playing in the streets
and on the young soldiers gathered there as well.
A man and his wife will both be captured
as well as all the old people.
12Their houses will be given to others.
Their fields and their wives will be given to other people.
I will raise my hand and punish the people of Judah.”
This message is from the Lord.
13“All the people of Israel want more and more money.
All of them, from the least important to the most important, are like that.
Even the prophets and priests tell lies.
14They should bandage the wounds my people have suffered,
but they treat their wounds like small scratches.
They say, ‘It’s all right, everything is all right.’
But it is not all right!
15They should be ashamed of the evil things they do,
but they are not ashamed at all.
They don’t know enough to be embarrassed by their sins.
So they will be punished with everyone else.
They will be thrown to the ground when I punish the people.”
This is what the Lord said.
16This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look.
Ask where the old road is.
Ask where the good road is,
and walk on that road.
If you do, you will find rest for yourselves.
But you people have said, ‘We will not walk on the good road.’
17I chose watchmen to watch over you.
I told them, ‘Listen for the sound of the war trumpet.’
But they said, ‘We will not listen!’
18So listen, all you nations,
and pay attention, you people in those countries.#6:18 pay … countries The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
19Hear this, people of the earth:
I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah
because of all the evil they planned,
and because they ignored my messages.
They refused to obey my law.
20“Why do you bring me incense from the country of Sheba#6:20 Sheba A land south of Israel, located where part of Saudi Arabia is today. Sheba controlled the spice trade in the time of Jeremiah.?
Why do you bring me sweet-smelling cane from a faraway country?
Your burnt offerings don’t make me happy.
Your sacrifices don’t please me.”
21So this is what the Lord says:
“I will give the people of Judah problems.
They will be like stones that make people fall.
Fathers and sons will stumble over them.
Friends and neighbors will die.”
22This is what the Lord says:
“An army is coming from the north.#6:22 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
A great nation is coming from faraway places on earth.
23The soldiers carry bows and spears.
They are cruel; they have no mercy.
They are so powerful.
They sound like the roaring ocean as they ride their horses.
That army is coming, ready for battle.
It is coming to attack you, Jerusalem.#6:23 Jerusalem Literally, “daughter Zion.” See “Zion” in the Word List.”
24We have heard the news about that army,
and we are paralyzed with fear.
We feel trapped by our troubles,
in pain like a woman giving birth.
25Don’t go out into the fields.
Don’t go on the roads
because the enemy has swords,
and there is danger everywhere.
26My people, put on sackcloth
and roll in the ashes.#6:26 roll in the ashes This is one way people showed that they were sad or crying for a dead person.
Cry loudly for the dead.
Cry as if you lost an only son.
Do this because the destroyer
will come against us very quickly.
27“Jeremiah, I want you to be
like a worker who tests metals.
You will test my people
and watch how they live.
28My people have turned against me,
and they are very stubborn.
They say bad things about people.
They are like bronze and iron
that are covered with rust and tarnish.
29 They are like a worker who tried to make silver pure.
The bellows#6:29 bellows A tool for blowing air on a fire to make the fire hotter. blew strongly, and the fire became hotter,
but only lead came from the fire.#6:29 lead came from the fire Workers melted metals like silver to make the metals pure. Lead was the first metal to melt, so the workers poured the lead out, leaving the other metal pure. Here, Jeremiah is saying the people are all bad—they are all lead and no silver!
The worker wasted his time
trying to make that silver pure.
In the same way the evil was not removed from my people.
30My people will be called ‘Rejected Silver.’
They will be given that name because the Lord did not accept them.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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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