Jeremiah 5–6

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

5^yRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

look and take note!

Search her squares to see

^zif you can find a man,

one who does justice

and seeks truth,

^athat I may pardon her.

^2bThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”

^cyet they swear falsely.

³O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?

^dYou have struck them down,

but they felt no anguish;

you have consumed them,

but they refused to take correction.

^eThey have made their faces harder than rock;

they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor;

they have no sense;

^ffor they do not know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the great

and will speak to them,

for they know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.”

^gBut they all alike had broken the yoke;

they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore ^ha lion from the forest shall strike them down;

a ⁱwolf from the desert shall devastate them.

^jA leopard is watching their cities;

everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,

because their transgressions are many,

their ^kapostasies are great.

^7l“How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me

^mand have sworn by those who are no gods.

ⁿWhen I fed them to the full,

^othey committed adultery

^pand trooped to the houses of whores.

⁸They were well-fed, lusty stallions,

^qeach neighing ^rfor his neighbor’s wife.

^9sShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord;

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

^10t“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,

^ubut make not a full end;

strip away her branches,

for they are not the Lord’s.

^11vFor the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly treacherous to me,

declares the Lord.

¹²They have spoken falsely of the Lord

and have said, ‘He will do nothing;

^wno disaster will come upon us,

^xnor shall we see sword or famine.

¹³The prophets will become wind;

the word is not in them.

Thus shall it be done to them!’ ”

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:

“Because you have spoken this word,

behold, ^yI am making my words in your mouth ^za fire,

and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.

^15aBehold, I am bringing against you

a nation from afar, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.

It is an enduring nation;

it is an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know,

^bnor can you understand what they say.

^16cTheir quiver is like ^dan open tomb;

they are all mighty warriors.

^17eThey shall eat up your harvest and your food;

they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;

they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;

they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;

your ^ffortified cities in which you trust

they shall beat down with the sword.”

¹⁸“But even in those days, declares the Lord, ^uI will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹And when your people say, ^g‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, ^hso you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’ ”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob;

proclaim it in Judah:

²¹“Hear this, ⁱO foolish and senseless people,

^jwho have eyes, but see not,

who have ears, but hear not.

^22kDo you not fear me? declares the Lord.

Do you not tremble before me?

I placed the sand ^las the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;

though ^mthey roar, they cannot pass over it.

²³ⁿBut this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;

they have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴They do not say in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the Lord our God,

^owho gives the rain in its season,

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

and keeps for us

^pthe weeks appointed for the harvest.’

^25qYour iniquities have turned these away,

and your sins have kept good from you.

²⁶For wicked men are found among my people;

^rthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait.¹

^sThey set a trap;

they catch men.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds,

their houses are full of deceit;

therefore they have become great and rich;

^28tthey have grown fat and sleek.

They know no bounds in deeds of evil;

^uthey judge not with justice

the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,

and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

^29vShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord,

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?”

³⁰An appalling and ^whorrible thing

has happened in the land:

^31xthe prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule at their direction;

^ymy people love to have it so,

but what will you do when the end comes?

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

6Flee for safety, ^zO people of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in ^aTekoa,

and raise a signal on ^bBeth-haccherem,

for disaster looms ^cout of the north,

and great destruction.

²The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,

^dthe daughter of Zion.¹

^3eShepherds with their flocks shall come against her;

^fthey shall pitch their tents around her;

they shall pasture, each in his place.

^4g“Prepare war against her;

arise, and let us attack ^hat 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:

ⁱ“Cut down her trees;

^jcast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be ^kpunished;

there is nothing but oppression within her.

^7lAs a well keeps its water fresh,

so she keeps fresh her evil;

^mviolence and destruction are heard within her;

sickness and wounds are ever before me.

⁸Be warned, O Jerusalem,

ⁿlest I turn from you in disgust,

lest I make you ^oa desolation,

an uninhabited land.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:

^p“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine

the remnant of Israel;

like a grape gatherer pass your hand again

over its branches.”

^10qTo whom shall I speak and give warning,

that they may hear?

^rBehold, their ears are uncircumcised,

^sthey cannot listen;

behold, ^tthe 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;

^uI am weary of holding it in.

^v“Pour it out upon the children in the street,

and upon the gatherings of young men, also;

^wboth husband and wife ^xshall be taken,

the elderly and the very aged.

^12yTheir 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.

^13z“For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone ^ais greedy for unjust gain;

and from ^bprophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

¹⁴They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ^c‘Peace, peace,’

^dwhen there is no peace.

^15eWere 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;

^fat 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 ^gthe ancient paths,

where the good way is; and walk in it,

^hand find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

¹⁷ⁱI set watchmen over you, saying,

‘Pay attention to ^jthe sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ^k‘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,

^lthe fruit of their devices,

because they have not paid attention to my words;

and as for my law, they have rejected it.

^20mWhat use to me is ⁿfrankincense that comes from ^oSheba,

or sweet cane from a distant land?

^pYour burnt offerings are not acceptable,

nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord:

^q‘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:

^r“Behold, a people is coming ^sfrom the north country,

a great nation is stirring from ^tthe farthest parts of the earth.

²³They lay hold on bow and javelin;

they are ^ucruel and have no mercy;

^vthe 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;

^wour hands fall helpless;

anguish has taken hold of us,

^xpain as of a woman in labor.

²⁵Go not out into the field,

nor walk on the road,

for the enemy has a sword;

^yterror is on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people, ^zput on sackcloth,

and ^aroll in ashes;

^bmake mourning as for an only son,

most bitter lamentation,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

²⁷“I have made you ^ca tester of metals among my people,

that you may know and ^dtest their ways.

^28eThey are all stubbornly rebellious,

^fgoing about with slanders;

they are ^gbronze and iron;

all of them act corruptly.

²⁹The ^gbellows blow fiercely;

the lead is consumed by the fire;

^hin vain the refining goes on,

for the wicked are not removed.

³⁰ⁱRejected silver they are called,

for the Lord has rejected them.”