Jeremiah 6
6
A City Full of Lies
1-5“Run for your lives, children of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem, and now!
Give a blast on the ram’s horn in Blastville.
Send up smoke signals from Smoketown.
Doom pours out of the north—
massive terror!
I have likened my dear daughter Zion
to a lovely meadow.
Well, now ‘shepherds’ from the north have discovered her
and brought in their flocks of soldiers.
They’ve pitched camp all around her,
and plan where they’ll ‘graze.’
And then, ‘Prepare to attack! The fight is on!
To arms! We’ll strike at noon!
Oh, it’s too late? Day is dying?
Evening shadows are upon us?
Well, up anyway! We’ll attack by night
and tear apart her defenses stone by stone.’”
6-8 God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave the orders:
“Chop down her trees.
Build a siege ramp against Jerusalem,
A city full of brutality,
bursting with violence.
Just as a well holds a good supply of water,
she supplies wickedness nonstop.
The streets echo the cries: ‘Violence! Rape!’
Victims, bleeding and moaning, lie all over the place.
You’re in deep trouble, Jerusalem.
You’ve pushed me to the limit.
You’re on the brink of being wiped out,
being turned into a ghost town.”
9More orders from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Time’s up! Harvest the grapes for judgment.
Salvage what’s left of Israel.
Go back over the vines.
Pick them clean, every last grape.
Is Anybody Listening?
10-11a “I’ve got something to say. Is anybody listening?
I’ve a warning to post. Will anyone notice?
It’s hopeless! Their ears are stuffed with wax—
deaf as a post, blind as a bat.
It’s hopeless! They’ve tuned out God.
They don’t want to hear from me.
But I’m bursting with the wrath of God.
I can’t hold it in much longer.
11b-12 “So dump it on the children in the streets.
Let it loose on the gangs of youth.
For no one’s exempt: Husbands and wives will be taken,
the old and those ready to die;
Their homes will be given away—
all they own, even their loved ones—
When I give the signal
against all who live in this country.”
God’s Decree.
13-15“Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’
But things are not ‘just fine’!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
they’re finished.”
God has spoken.
Death Is on the Prowl
16-20 God’s Message yet again:
“Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, ‘Nothing doing.
We aren’t going that way.’
I even provided watchmen for them
to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm.
It doesn’t concern us.’
And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:
‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’
And, ‘Pay attention, Earth!
Don’t miss these bulletins.’
I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
of the games they’ve been playing with me.
They’ve ignored everything I’ve said,
had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
Your religious rituals mean nothing to me.”
21So listen to this. Here’s God’s verdict on your way of life:
“Watch out! I’m putting roadblocks and barriers
on the road you’re taking.
They’ll send you sprawling,
parents and children, neighbors and friends—
and that will be the end of the lot of you.”
22-23And listen to this verdict from God:
“Look out! An invasion from the north,
a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:
Armed to the teeth,
vicious and pitiless,
Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—
riding hard on war horses,
In battle formation
against you, dear Daughter Zion!”
24-25We’ve heard the news,
and we’re as limp as wet dishrags.
We’re paralyzed with fear.
Terror has a death grip on our throats.
Don’t dare go outdoors!
Don’t leave the house!
Death is on the prowl.
Danger everywhere!
26“Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
as for an only child.
The countdown has begun . . .
six, five, four, three . . .
The Terror is on us!”
* * *
27-30 God gave me this task:
“I have made you the examiner of my people,
to examine and weigh their lives.
They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It’s useless to keep trying any longer.
Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’
thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 6: MSG
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Jeremiah 6
6
Jerusalem Under Siege
1Flee for refuge, children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the shofar in Tekoa and raise a signal in Beth-cherem! For disaster looms from the north, even terrible destruction.
2“The lovely, delicate Daughter of Zion I will cut off.”
3Shepherds with their flocks are coming against her. All around her they pitch their tents, each pasturing in his own place.
4“Prepare for war against her. Rise up! Let’s attack at noon.” “Oy for us! For day is fading— evening shadows are lengthening.”
5“Rise up! Let’s attack at night and destroy her palaces.”
6For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Chop down her trees! Raise a siege ramp at Jerusalem. This city must be punished— in her midst is only oppression.
7As a well gushes out its waters, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and havoc are heard in her, sickness and wounds ever before Me.
8Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I abandon you, lest I make you desolate— an uninhabited land.”
9Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Glean the remnant of Israel thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand over the branches once more, like a grape-gatherer.”
10“To whom can I speak and warn so they would hear? See, their ears are uncircumcised, unable to hear! The word of Adonai has become scorn to them. They have no delight in it.
11So I am full of the wrath of Adonai. I am weary of holding it in! Pour it out on a child in the street, on young men gathered together. For husband will be taken with wife, the aged with the very old.
12Their homes will be turned over to others—together with their fields and their wives. For I will stretch out My hand on the inhabitants of the land.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
13“For from the least to the greatest, all of them are greedy for gain, and from prophet even to kohen, everyone practices deceit.
14They healed the wound of My people superficially, saying ‘Shalom, shalom!’ when there is no shalom.”
15""Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at al ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among thos who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,"" says Adonai.
16Thus says Adonai: “Stand in the roads and look. Ask for the ancient paths— where the good way is— and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We won’t walk in it.’
17So I set watchmen over you, saying ‘Listen to the sound of the shofar!’ But they said, ‘We won’t listen.’
18Therefore hear, O nations and observe, O congregation, what is against them.
19Hear, O earth! See, I will bring disaster on this people —fruit of their schemes— for they did not listen to My words and rejected My Torah.
20Of what use to Me is frankincense coming from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to Me.”
Destruction from the North
21Therefore thus says Adonai: “Look, I am laying before this people stumbling blocks— and against them they will stumble— fathers and the sons together, a neighbor and his friend, and they will perish.”
22Thus says Adonai: “Look, a people coming from a northern land, a great nation roused from the ends of the earth!
23They are armed with bow and spear, cruel and with no compassion. They sound like the roaring sea— as they ride on horses as men in battle formation, against you, Daughter of Zion!”
24“We have heard of their fame. Our hands hang limp; anguish has gripped us, pain like a woman in labor.
25Don’t go out into the field or walk on the road. Since the enemy has a sword, there’s terror on every side!”
26“Daughter of My people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son with bitter lamentation.” “For suddenly the destroyer will come on us!”
27“I have made you a metal-tester among My people—so you may observe and test their way.
28They are all stubborn rebels spreading slander. They are bronze and iron, all of them are corrupt.
29The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining is completely in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off.
30They are called ‘cast off silver’— for Adonai has cast them off.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society