Jeremiah 6
6
Threatened Siege of Jerusalem
1“Run for cover, # Ex 9:19; Is 10:31; Jr 4:6 Benjaminites,
out of Jerusalem!
Sound the ram’s horn # Jr 4:5; 51:27; Am 3:6 in Tekoa; # 2Sm 14:2; 2Ch 11:6; 20:20
raise a smoke signal # Jdg 20:38,40; Neh 3:14 over Beth-haccherem, # = House of the Vineyard
for disaster threatens from the north, # Jr 1:13; 4:6,20; 6:22; 15:12; 47:2; 50:3,9,41; 51:48
even great destruction.
2Though she is beautiful and delicate,
I will destroy # Or silence Daughter Zion.
3Shepherds and their flocks will come against her;
they will pitch their tents all around her. # Jr 4:17
Each will pasture his own portion.
4Set them apart for war # Jr 51:27; Mc 3:5 against her;
rise up, let’s attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the day is passing;
the evening shadows grow long.
5Rise up, let’s attack by night.
Let us destroy her fortresses.”
6For this is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Cut down the trees; # Dt 20:19-20
raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished.
There is nothing but oppression within her. # Is 30:12; 59:9-15; Jr 22:17; Ezk 22:7,12,29; Am 3:9; Hab 1:3
7As a well gushes out its water,
so she pours out her evil. # Or well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh
Violence and destruction # Jr 20:8; Am 3:10; Hab 1:3 resound in her.
Sickness and wounds keep coming to My attention.
8Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you; # Ezk 23:18; Hs 9:12
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants. # Jr 9:11; 25:9; 29:18; 34:22; Ezk 30:12
Wrath on Israel
9This is what the Lord of Hosts says:
Glean the remnant of Israel # Is 10:20; Jr 31:7; Ezk 9:8; 11:13; Mc 2:12; Zph 3:13
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer
over the branches.
10Who can I speak to and give such a warning # Or and bear witness
that they will listen?
Look, their ear is uncircumcised, # They are unresponsive to God. # Lv 26:41; Jr 9:26; Ezk 44:7,9
so they cannot pay attention.
See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them —
they find no pleasure in it. # 1Sm 15:23; Jr 8:9
11But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;
I am tired of holding it back. # Jr 20:9; Hs 5:10
Pour it out on the children in the street, # Jr 9:21
on the gang of young men as well.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old with the very old. # Lit with fullness of days
12Their houses will be turned over to others, # Jr 8:10-12
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out My hand # Ex 3:20; Jr 15:6; Ezk 6:14; 14:13; 25:7; Zph 1:4
against the inhabitants of the land.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13For from the least to the greatest of them, # Est 1:20; Jr 8:10; 31:34; 42:1,8; 44:12
everyone is making profit dishonestly. # Pr 1:19; 15:27; Hab 2:9
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely. # Jr 5:31; 8:10; 14:14; 20:6; 23:14,25,26,32; 27:10,14-16; 28:15; 29:9,21,31; Lm 2:14; Zch 13:3
14They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially,
claiming, “Peace, peace,” # 1Ch 12:18; Is 57:19
when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation. # Jr 3:3; 8:12
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse, # Jr 8:10-12
says the Lord.
Disaster because of Disobedience
16This is what the Lord says:
Stand by the roadways and look.
Ask about the ancient paths: # Is 59:8; Jr 18:15; Jb 24:13; Pr 8:20; 12:28
Which is the way to what is good?
Then take it
and find rest for yourselves. # Mt 11:29
But they protested, “We won’t!”
17I appointed watchmen over you # Is 21:11; 58:1; Hs 9:8
and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.
But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
18Therefore listen, you nations
and you witnesses,
learn what the charge is against them.
19Listen, earth!
I am about to bring disaster on these people,
the fruit of their own plotting, # Pr 1:31
for they have paid no attention to My word.
They have rejected My instruction. # Is 5:24; Jr 23:17
20What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba # 1Kg 10:1; Is 60:6
or sweet cane # Ex 30:23; Is 43:24; Ezk 27:19 from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
your sacrifices do not please Me. # Ps 40:6; Is 1:11; 43:23; 66:3; Hs 9:4; Am 5:21; Mc 6:6; Mal 1:10
21Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;
fathers and sons together will stumble over them; # Is 8:15; Jr 31:9; Ezk 7:19
friends and neighbors will also perish.
A Cruel Nation from the North
22This is what the Lord says:
Look, an army is coming from a northern land; # Is 13:4; Jr 1:13; 6:1; 38:3; Lm 1:15; Ezk 38:15; Jl 2:25
a great nation will be awakened
from the remote regions of the earth. # Jr 25:32; 31:8
23They grasp bow and javelin.
They are cruel and show no mercy. # Is 13:18; Jr 50:42; Hab 1:6-17
Their voice roars like the sea, # Is 5:30; 17:12
and they ride on horses,
lined up like men in battle formation
against you, Daughter Zion.
24We have heard about it,
and we are discouraged. # Lit and our hands fail
Distress has seized us —
pain like a woman in # Ps 48:6; Is 13:8; 21:3; 42:14; Jr 4:31; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 50:43; Mc 4:9-10; 1Th 5:3 labor. # Jr 50:41-43
25Don’t go out to the fields;
don’t walk on the road.
For the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side. # Ps 31:13; Jr 20:3,10; 49:29
26My dear # Lit Daughter of My people, dress yourselves in sackcloth
and roll in the dust. # Jr 25:34; Ezk 27:30; Mc 1:10
Mourn as you would for an only son, # Am 8:10
a bitter lament,
for suddenly the destroyer # Ex 12:23; Is 21:2; 54:16; Jr 48:8,15,18,32; 1Co 10:10; Heb 11:28 will come on us. # Is 47:11; Jr 4:20; 15:8
Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner
27I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people —
a refiner # Text emended; MT reads fortress —
so you may know and assay their way of life. # 1Ch 29:17; Ps 7:9; Pr 17:3
28All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander. # Lv 19:16; Pr 11:13; 20:19; Is 1:23
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt. # 2Ch 27:2; Is 1:4
29The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
30They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them. # 1Sm 15:23,26; Jr 2:37; 7:29
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Jeremiah 6: HCSB
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Jeremiah 6
6
The Babylonians Will Attack Jerusalem
1The Lord says, “People of Benjamin, run for safety!
Run away from Jerusalem!
Blow trumpets in the city of Tekoa!
Warn everyone in Beth Hakkerem!
Horrible trouble is coming from the north.
The Babylonians will destroy everything with awful power.
2I will destroy the city of Zion,
even though it is very beautiful.
3Shepherds will come against it with their flocks.
They will set up their tents around it.
All of them will take care of their own sheep.”
4The Babylonians say, “Prepare for battle against Judah!
Get up! Let’s attack them at noon!
But the daylight is fading.
The shadows of evening are getting longer.
5So get up! Let’s attack them at night!
Let’s destroy their strongest forts!”
6The Lord who rules over all speaks to the Babylonians. He says,
“Cut down some trees.
Use the wood to build ramps against Jerusalem’s walls.
I must punish that city.
It is filled with people who treat others badly.
7Wells keep giving fresh water.
And Jerusalem keeps on sinning.
Its people are always fighting and causing trouble.
When I look at them,
I see nothing but sickness and wounds.
8Jerusalem, listen to my warning.
If you do not, I will turn away from you.
Your land will become a desert.
No one will be able to live there.”
9The Lord rules over all. He says to me,
“People gather the few grapes left on a vine.
So let Israel’s enemies gather the few people left alive in the land
Look carefully at the branches again.
Do this like someone who gathers the last few grapes.”
10Who can I speak to? Who can I warn?
Who will even listen to me?
Their ears are closed
so they can’t hear.
The Lord’s message displeases them.
They don’t take any delight in it.
11But the Lord’s anger burns inside me.
I can no longer hold it in.
The Lord says to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the street.
Pour it out on the young men who are gathered together.
Husband and wife alike will be caught in it.
So will those who are very old.
12I will reach out my hand
against those who live in the land,”
announces the Lord.
“Then their houses will be turned over to others.
So will their fields and their wives.
13Everyone wants to get richer and richer,
from the least important of them to the most important.
Prophets and priests alike
try to fool everyone they can.
14They bandage the wounds of my people
as if they were not very deep.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say.
But there isn’t any peace.
15Are they ashamed of their hateful actions?
No. They do not feel any shame at all.
They do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall like others who have already fallen.
They will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
16The Lord tells the people of Judah,
“Stand where the roads cross, and look around.
Ask where the old paths are.
Ask for the good path, and walk on it.
Then your hearts will find rest in me.
But you said, ‘We won’t walk on it.’
17I appointed prophets to warn you. I said,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpets!’
But you said, ‘We won’t listen.’
18So pay attention, you nations.
You are witnesses for me.
Watch what will happen to my people.
19Earth, pay attention.
I am going to bring trouble on them.
I will punish them because of the evil things they have done.
They have not listened to my words.
They have said no to my law.
20What do I care about incense from the land of Sheba?
Why should I bother with sweet-smelling cane from a land far away?
I do not accept your burnt offerings.
Your sacrifices do not please me.”
21So the Lord says,
“I will bring an army against the people of Judah.
Parents and children alike will trip and fall.
Neighbors and friends will die.”
22The Lord says to Jerusalem,
“Look! An army is coming
from the land of the north.
I am stirring up a great nation.
Its army is coming from a land that is very far away.
23Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.
They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all.
They come riding in on their horses.
They sound like the roaring ocean.
They are lined up for battle.
They are marching out
to attack you, city of Zion.”
24We have heard reports about them.
And our hands can’t help us.
We are suffering greatly.
It’s like the pain of a woman having a baby.
25Don’t go out to the fields.
Don’t walk on the roads.
Our enemies have swords.
And there is terror on every side.
26My people, put on the clothes of sadness.
Roll among the ashes.
Mourn with bitter weeping
just as you would mourn for an only son.
The one who is going to destroy us
will come suddenly.
27The Lord says to me, “I have made you like one who tests metals.
My people are the ore.
I want you to watch them
and test the way they live.
28All of them are used to disobeying me.
They go around telling lies about others.
They are like bronze mixed with iron.
All of them do very sinful things.
29The fire is made very hot
so the lead will burn away.
But it is impossible to make these people pure.
Those who are evil are not removed.
30They are like silver that is thrown away.
That is because I have not accepted them.”
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