Jeremiah 6
6
Jerusalem is Surrounded by Enemies
1People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north. 2The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed; 3kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents round the city, and they will each camp wherever they want. 4They will say, “Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!” But then they will say, “It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long. 5We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses.”
6The LORD Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, “I will punish this city because it is full of oppression. 7As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see. 8People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives.”
Rebellious Israel
9The LORD Almighty said to me, “Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time.”
10I answered, “Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say. 11Your anger against them burns in me too, LORD, and I can't hold it in any longer.”
Then the LORD said to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared. 12#Jer 8.10–12Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land. 13Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people. 14#Ezek 13.10They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well. 15Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Israel Rejects God's Way
16The LORD said to his people, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk on it, and you will live in peace.”
But they said, “No, we will not!” 17Then the LORD appointed watchmen to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, “We will not listen.”
18So the LORD said, “Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people. 19Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words. 20What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices. 21And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbours.”
Invasion from the North
22The LORD says, “People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war. 23They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”
24“We have heard the news,” say the people of Jerusalem, “and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labour. 25We dare not go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all round us.”
26The LORD says to his people, “Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only son, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack. 27Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like. 28They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going round and spreading gossip. 29The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away. 30They will be called worthless dross, because I, the LORD, have rejected them.”
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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